Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies - Ford Foundation

Inclusive Scholarship: Developing Black Studies in the United States 67
The question, it seems to me, is not whether English departments offer
courses inAfro-American literature,but whether works by Black authors are
taught in courses on American literature. A similar question can be asked of
other departments—political science, economics, history, and so forth: do
those faculties feel a lesser need to include within their courses matter pertaining
to the Afro-American experience because Black Studies programs
exist? I do not know the answer to that question, but my impression is that
American history has gone farther in developing Afro-American subject
matter than other fields and has been the most affected by recent scholarship.
The discussion of Black authors in standard English courses remains
rare. Except for Ralph Ellison (and sometimes Richard Wright and James
Baldwin), Black authors are largely ignored. Afro-American literature is
taken by most White scholars to be a subfield and taught only by those who
specialize in it. It is fair to say, however, that there is a much wider knowledge
about a few Black authors now than fifteen years ago.While this does not answer
the question, it suggests that conventional departments have not leapt
into the field; they have been slow and grudging.Yet it cannot be proven that
without Afro-American studies they would have done better. The need for
integration of this subject matter into mainstream courses is great and
should be one of the principal tasks in the years ahead.
Afro-American Studies and Affirmative Action
I have suggested a tendency to confound Afro-American studies with affirmative
action. This is partly owing to the tendency of early reformers to
combine them in their package of demands. They called for Black Studies
programs and for more Black faculty, sometimes, as we have seen, insisting
that only Blacks should teach Black Studies. Black candidates who are eligible
for academic positions are very few in all fields. Their scarcity has resulted
in resentments: one has to offer more to get them (earlier tenure,
higher salaries, etc.), departments are burdened by affirmative action procedures
adding to departmental administrative chores, departments have a
feeling of undue pressure from those administrators who take affirmative
action guidelines seriously.