Minoring in Africana Studies allows you to learn about the contributions that people of African descent have made to the global human experience.  It will also give you the knowledge, skills and dispositions to speak and write about the experiences of people of African descent.  

Africana studies enriches your study in history, policy, religion, arts, law, medicine, sociology, psychology, education and other other disciplines. You will also gain the following skill sets: 

  • Empathy 
  • Critical thinking 
  • Communications 
  • Knowledge of the diverse cultural experiences of communities of African Descent
  • Enriched understandings of history and the sociopolitical context
  • Community engagement 
  • Cultural Understandings 
  • Creative Innovative Solutions 

Education 

  • Teacher 
  • University Professor
  • University Administrator
  • High School Teacher
  • Historian
  • Guidance Counselor 

Communications

  • Journalist
  • Media Relations 

Government and Politics

  • Political Analysist 
  • Community Urban Planning 
  • Public Affairs and Policy 
  • Community Outreach Coordinator  
  • Human Rights Activist  
  • Literacy Program Coordinator  
  • Lobbyist 
  • Foreign Service Specialist  
  • Politician 
  • Peace Corp Staffer 

Management and Industry

  • Business Manager
  • Civil Service Worker  
  • Cultural Administrator  
  • Cultural Advisor  
  • Cultural Affairs Officer  
  • Diversity, Equity. and Inclusion Officer 
  • Manager of Corporate Diversity Program  
  • Multicultural Liaison Officer  

Non-Profit and Advocacy

  • International Aid and Development Project Officer
  • International Aid Worker
  • Non-Profit Foundation Manager

Selected Notable African and African American Studies Majors

  • Angela Bassett, Award-winning actress (B.A. in African-American Studies from Yale University
  • Nick Cannon, Comendian (B.S. in Criminology/Administration of Justice and a minor in Africana Studies from Howard University)   
  • Megan L. Comfort, Senior Research Sociologist, Urban Health Program at RTI International and Adjunct Asst. Professor of Medicine, UCSF (B.A. in Black Studies from Wellesley College)
  • Kimberly Crenshaw, Civil Rights Advocate, Leading Scholar  (B.A.  in government and Africana studies from Cornell University, J.D. Harvard Law)
  • Robert Henry Graham, Artist-educator
  • Brian L. Harper, Medical Director and COO of the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention (B.A. in Afro-American Studies & Biology from Brown University)
  • Mae Jemison, Physician and NASA astronaut on the Endeavor in 1992 (B.A. in Afro-American Studies from Stanford University)
  • Do Kim, Civil rights attorney, founder of the Korean American Youth Leadership Program (B.A. in Afro-American Studies & Sociology from Harvard University)
  • Aaron McGruder, Cartoonist, writer and creator of the nationally syndicated comic strip The Boondocks (B.A. in African-American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park)
  • Gloria Naylor, Educator and novelist, winner of the National Book Award in 1983 for The Women of Brewster Place (M.A. in Afro-American Studies from Yale University)
  • Michelle Obama, Attorney and First Lady of the United States (B.A. in Sociology with a minor in African-American Studies from Princeton University)
  • Claudia Thomas, Author and first black female orthopedic surgeon in the U.S. (B.A. in Black Studies from Vassar College)