Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies - Ford Foundation

108 Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies in the United States
white, broached the topic and admitted that this problem was of critical importance
to the future of Black Studies.
The numerous monographs, articles, and manuscript editing projects
produced by Black scholars have fueled the movement to reclaim the forgotten
or obscured dimensions of the Black past. Their new interpretations of
past and present conditions affecting all aspects of Black life have wrought
a veritable revolution, albeit a still largely unheralded one, in the ways in
which even traditional historians, literature theorists, sociologists, anthropologists,
philosophers, psychologists, and political scientists approach
their work whenever it touches upon the experience of Black people.
There is reason to be excited and pleased with the record of intellectual
accomplishment evident in scattered institutions around the country.
Regrettably, most of these Black scholars have little contact with each other.
Nevertheless, because there are so many recognizably productive and accomplished
scholars the future of Black Studies appears bright in spite of
all of the structural complexities and creative tensions. In the remainder of
this paper, I will address several factors concerning Black scholars: the role
of philanthropic foundations in their development, the perspectives reflected
in some of their works, and the relationship between their scholarship
and Black Studies as an organized unit within universities and colleges.
Any perusal of the acknowledgments and prefaces of some of the refreshingly
original recent works of Black scholars demonstrates the critical
importance of the scholarships and fellowships made available by foundations
and other organizations, including those specifically set aside for minority
group scholars. Without these special fellowships, I dare say the
record of productivity in Black Studies would not be so impressive.
To illustrate this point, I shall discuss three recently published and
widely praised (within Black Studies circles, that is) volumes authored by
Black women scholars, the most recent group to establish a viable presence
in the academy. Gloria T. Hull, professor of English at the University of
Delaware, co-editor of All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But
Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women’s Studies (Old Westbury, NY: The Feminist
Press, 1982) and editor of Give Us Each Day: The Diary of Alice Dunbar-Nelson
(New York: Norton, 1984), has recently published a provocative