#Conscious2Woke2020
Student Afro-American Organization (replaced Carver Club)/Afro-American Student Association (1967)
First Elected Officers
Cheryl Evans, President
Cheryl Eastmond, Vice President
Paula Diggs, Treasurer
Carol Seales, Secretary
Bernard Bell (graduate student, English)
Carlton Brown
Steve Burrell
Mike Cook (graduate Student)
Herman Davenport
Al Dodson
Robert/Bobby Henderson
Stanley Kinard
Steve Moore
Leroy Richardson (graduate student, Education)
Danny Scarborough (graduate Student)
Nate Sims (graduate Student, Education)
Calvin P. Ward (Amherst College)
Black Studies Program in English Department, (1969-1970)
Michael Thelwell, Director
Bernard Bell
Sidney Kaplan
Esther Terry
Eugene Terry
Five College Black Studies Committee, (1969)
Amherst College: Asa Davis (faculty); James Denton (faculty)
Hampshire College: Eugene Terry (faculty & Director of Black Studies)
Mt. Holyoke College
Smith College: Walter Morris-Hale
UMass Amherst: William J. Wilson (Chair & faculty); Sidney Kaplan (faculty) Bernard Bell (graduate student); Michael Thelwell (graduate student)
Committee on Afro-American Studies (CAS)/Afro-Am Studies Committee, (1968)
William J. Wilson, Department of Sociology, chair
Bernard Bell, Department of English
Playthell Benjamin, Visiting Lecturer
Stephan Bowden, ‘72
Carlton E. Brown, ‘72
Robyn Chandler, ‘72
Ivanhoe Donaldson, Visiting Lecturer
Rockwood Green, ‘72
Cherif Guellal, Visiting Lecturer
Sidney Kaplan, Department of English
Steve Moore, ‘72
Nate Sims, Doctoral Student (education)
Esther Terry, Department of English/Black Repertory Theatre
Michael Thelwell, Department of English
Cass Turner, Assistant Director, CCEBS
Roslyn Walker, Department of Art
Ben Wambari, Department of Linguistics
Department Chairs
Michael Thelwell, Founding chair, 1970-1974
Bernard Bell, 1970 (interim)
John H. Bracey, Jr., 1974-1979, 2012-2016
Paul Puryear, 1979-1980
Ernest Allen, Jr., 1980 – 1984
Chester Davis, 1984 – 1988
Esther M. A. Terry, 1988 – 2007
Amilcar Shabazz, 2007– 2012, 2016-2018 (interim)
Stephanie Shonekan, 2018-2020
James Smethurst, 2020-Present (interim)
Faculty Pioneers
Bernard Bell ‘69
Playthell Benjamin ‘69
Ivanhoe Donaldson ’69
Cherif Guellal ‘69
Sidney Kaplan’69
Esther Terry ‘69
Michael Thelwell ‘69
William Julius Wilson ‘69
Allan Austin ‘70 (graduate student in English dept)
Johnnetta Cole ‘70
Femi (Josephus) Richards ‘70
RoslynWalker ‘70
Ben Wambari ‘70
Chester Davis ‘71
Julius Lester ‘71
Chinua Achebe ‘72
John Bracey ‘72
Diana Ramos ‘72
Max Roach ‘72
Archie Shepp ‘72
Nelson Stevens ‘72
Ernest Allen ‘73
Paul Carter Harrison ’73
Aishah Rahman ‘73 (Director of NAH Cultural Center)
William “Bill” Strickland ‘73
Shirley Graham Du Bois ‘74
Eugene Terry ‘78
Dorrance Hill ‘82
David Graham Du Bois ‘87
Robert Paul Wolff ’92 (1st Graduate Program Director)
Dovi Afesi
James Baldwin
Acklyn Lynch
Homer “Skip” Meade II
Ray Miles
Paul Puryear
Early Supporters
Jeremiah Allen, dean, College of Liberal Arts and professor of English
Jules Chametzky, Massachusetts Review
Joseph Frank, chair, Department of English
John Messenger
Student Pioneers
Dr. Cheryl Evans ’68, (first president, Student Afro-American Organization)
Paula Diggs ‘69
Cheryl Eastmond ‘69
Wanda Jordan ’70 (Smith College)
Leslie-Burl McLemore ‘70 (graduate student, Government/Political Science)
Tawn Smith ’70 (Smith College)
Keith Bromery ‘71
Stanley Kinard ‘71
Anita Anderson ‘72
Stephan Bowden ‘72
Carlton Brown ‘72
Rockwood Green ‘72
Imani Kazana ’72
Steve Moore ‘72
Phoebe Haddon ’72 (Smith College)
Sandy Jones ’72 (Smith College)
Angela Noel ’72 (Smith College)
Robyn Chandler Smith ‘72 (Founder and editor, Drum)
Deborah Blair ’73 (Smith College)
Herman Davenport ’73 (co-editor Drum)
Coffee Thornton ’73 (Smith College)
Kathy Abernathy (Smith College)
Carol Ann Bromery
Eddie Cohen
Mike Cook
Sandra Fascell (Smith College)
William “Bill” Hasson (graduate student, School of Education; first Director of Black Cultural Center/New Africa House)
Jerry Harleston
Jo Phears (Smith College)
Leslie Rankine (Smith College)
Alice Reid (Smith College)
Leroy Richardson
Danny Scarborough
Jeff Tucker (graduate student, Theater)
Gerry Whitted (Smith College)
Staff Pioneers
Wilma Brady, CCEBS Secretary
Dallas Darland, first director of CCEBS
Bennie McDonald, Assistant Area Coordinator Orchard Hill
Amus Moore, Director Mills Black Cultural Center
Georgia Reid, CCEBS
John Robinson, Assistant Area Coordinator Southwest
Atron Gentry, CCEBS
Carl Thomas, Mills House manager
Affiliated Programs
CCEBS/Committee for the Collegiate Education of Black Students, 1968
Black Repertory Theatre, 1968 Esther Terry
Augusta Savage Gallery, 1971 (Black Cultural Center in Mills House)
Drum Magazine, 1969 Robyn Chandler
Contributions in Black Studies, 1977, Michael Thelwell and Eugene Terry, eds.
Third World Theatre, 1979 Roberta Uno (later New World Theatre)
First Undergraduate Degrees
Imani Kazana ’72
Ingrid White ’73
Herman Davenport ’73
Daniel Dudek ’73
Carroll Fraser ’74
Rudolph Jones ’74
First Doctoral Degree
Christopher Lehman ’02
Francis Njubi Nesbitt ’02
Carolyn Powell ’02
First Master’s Degree:
Christopher Lehman ’97
Current Faculty
Current Graduate Students
Alumns
Commemoratory List
Chinua Achebe
Dovi Afesi
Bobby Alexander
James Baldwin
Horace Boyer
Randolph Bromery
Steve Burrell
William Darity, Sr.
Dallas Darland
Chester Davis
Ivanhoe Donaldson
David Graham Du Bois
Shirley Graham Du Bois
Tim Edwards
Lloren Foster
Atron Gentry
Lawrence Johnson
Sidney Kaplan
Stanley Kinard
Yusef Lateef
Ray Miles
Steve Moore
Carolyn Powell
Paul Puryear
Aishah Rahman
Femi Josephus Richards
Max Roach
John Robinson
Carol Seales
Joseph T Skerrett, Jr.
Eugene Terry
Carl Thomas
Frederick Tillis
Millions and millions of the named and unnamed ancestors and transitioned ones from the African Trek, the Middle Passage, and anti-Black violence
Ashe