Key Facts: The First Fifty Years

#Conscious2Woke2020

Timeline
1966	Carver Club, an informal Black student organization, established at UMass Amherst (primarily undergraduates, a few graduate members) Upward Bound summer program brought students to UMass Amherst for educational enrichment and college preparatory courses
1967	A committee of Black students met with Dean Tunis and presented a proposal to increase the number of Black students on the UMass Amherst campus CCENS/Committee for the Collegiate Education of Negro Students established (later CCEBS) Randolph Bromery Lawrence Johnson William Julius Wilson William Darity Sr. John Spencer Five College Committee on Negro Education UMass Amherst William Julius Wilson, chair & faculty Lawrence Johnson, faculty & assistant dean, School of Business Administration Randolph Bromery, faculty William Darity Sr., faculty Smith College Walter Morris-Hale Amherst College James Denton Afro-American Student Association established as a recognized student organization at UMass Amherst Cheryl Evans, President Cheryl Eastmond, Vice-President Paula Diggs, Treasurer Carol Seales, Secretary First Afro-Am Student Association social event held in Belchertown Function at the Junction
1968	First Black Arts Festival: UMass, Cheryl Evans American International College, Henry Thomas III Springfield College, Don Brown Amherst College, Cuthbert O. “Tuffy” Simpkins Arrival of first CCENS class of 125 students recruited to attend UMass Amherst; campus administration housed the students on Orchard Hill, Cheryl Evans Assistant Area Coordinator, Sept. Students marched on the Whitmore Administration building and presented twenty-two demands for change, including Black Studies, Nov. University administration established the Committee on Afro-American Studies (CAS)/Afro-Am Studies Committee to write a proposal for a Black Studies department at UMass Afro-Am Cultural Center at Smith College opened
1969	Five College Black Studies Committee formed Afro-American Studies program established in the Department of English Black Students’ Alliance at Smith College presented list of demands for Black Studies, 19 March Smith College faculty, in an emergency meeting, approved an Afro-American Studies major to begin in fall, 9 April Students presented UMass administration a petition for a Black Studies department; for Black Studies courses to count as core requirements; and for a Five College Black Studies Institute, Dec. The Drum Magazine founded by Robyn Chandler Smith with offices in the Black Cultural Center located in Mills House Dedication of Du Bois Homesite: Ossie Davis and Julian Bond
1970	Students occupied Mills residence hall while defending against anti-Black attackers, Feb Student activists from across the Valley occupy four buildings on the Amherst College campus, 28 February CAS submitted proposal for Black Studies department George Mills House residence hall became the Black Cultural Center Amherst College established the first Black Studies department in the Pioneer Valley, March University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees approved the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, 22 April W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies began its first academic year with nine faculty offering fourteen courses. Faculty: Allan Austin, Johnnetta Cole, Playthell Benjamin, Ivanhoe Donaldson, Cherif Guellal, Femi Richards, Esther Terry, Michael Thelwell, and Ben Wambari, Sept Smith College Department of Afro-American Studies began in fall under the chairmanship of Sethard Fisher, a visiting professor along with affiliated faculty: Walter Morris Hale (Government) and Peter Rose (Sociology).
1971	Black Cultural Center Art Gallery opens; later named the Augusta Savage Gallery
1972	New Africa House replaces Mills as the name for the building housing the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies
1973	W.E.B. Du Bois Library completed Afro-American Cultural Center at Smith College renamed the Mwangi Cultural Center to honor Dr. Ng’endo Mwangi, Smith class of ’61 and the first woman physician in Kenya
1996	Du Bois Department doctoral program established—the second department in the nation to offer the PhD in Black Studies Smith College President Ruth J. Simmons proposed establishing a journal dedicated to publishing scholarship by and about women of color
2000	First issue of Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism published at Smith College
2002	Paula J. Giddings edited Meridians at Smith College until 2016
2016	The Department of Afro-American Studies at Smith College was renamed the Africana Studies Department
2020	The Fine Arts Center at UMass Amherst was renamed the Randolph Bromery Center for the Arts