Browse Selections from the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies (University of Michigan) Records, 1966-2010

The series Black student activism, 1969-2001 (5.5 linear feet) contains four alphabetically arranged subseries relating to the Black Action Movements (BAM) on the University of Michigan campus: BAM I, 1969-1987 (0.4 linear feet), BAM II, 1974-1975 (0.1 linear feet), BAM III, 1985-1995 (0.5 linear feet) and Conferences and Scholarship about BAM, 1970-2001 (0.1 linear feet). These records include correspondence, newspaper clippings, minutes and other records of the United Coalition Against Racism (UCAR), and they address both the movements themselves and reactions to them within the university community. There are also documents concerning incidents of racial harassment that had a part in inspiring the movements.

In 2014 the Bentley Historical Library digitized select archival records relating to BAM I, II and III housed in other University collections. Finding aid to Black Action Movement select documents, 1970-1987 digital collection is available online and contains links to the digitized files.

A fifth subseries, Other activism,1966-2000 (3.9 linear feet), includes newspaper clippings about the civil rights movement; and the anti-apartheid and divestment movements of the 1980s, as well as records of several activist organizations, particularly the Free South Africa Coordinating Committee (FSACC), and the Washtenaw County Coalition Against Apartheid (WCCAA). Some of these records pertain to activities on campus, but most are concerned with political and civil rights causes that are national or international in scope. The Washtenaw County Coalition Against Apartheid (WCCAA) records document that organization's efforts to encourage the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor banks to divest their holdings in South Africa.

More records relating to UCAR and the Baker -Mandela Center (BMC) are presented in the "Other activism" subseries, and pertain to activism and events at the University of Michigan during the 1980s and 1990s. Though UCAR and the BMC were separate entities, their records have been arranged together as a result of their frequent and close collaboration.

The Blacks at U-M, 1969-2007 series (4.5 linear ft.) concerns civil rights and anti-apartheid activism on the University of Michigan campus and in the surrounding community from the 1970s to the 1990s. This series includes records of political and student organizations that were active on campus, with the exception of UCAR and the BMC, mentioned above. This collection also includes a small number of topical files and records pertaining to offices and policies of the University. This series is comprised of six subseries: Organizations, 1984-1995 (1 linear foot.), Programs and events, 1981-2004 (0.5 linear ft.), Publications, 1975-1999 (0.5 linear ft.), Student organizations, 1972-2007 (1 linear ft.), Topics, 1971-1995 (0.2 linear ft.) and University of Michigan, 1969-1997 (1.4 linear ft.).

The third series, CAAS organizational archives, 1962-2010 (17 linear ft.) includes correspondence and administrative files; course descriptions and syllabi; articles and research by faculty members and visiting scholars; and fliers and programs from CAAS events. The series is divided into nineteen subseries: Administrative records, 1970-2010 (1 linear ft.), Brown bags and colloquia, 1970-1998 (0.6 linear ft.), Committees and meetings, 1974-1993 (0.2 linear ft.), Conferences, 1991-2002 (1 linear ft.), Co-sponsored programs, 1979-1995 (0.1 linear ft.), Courses and syllabi, 1970-2009 (1.9 linear ft.), Directors files, Kevin Gaines, 1974-2009 (restricted) (0.7 linear ft.), History, 1970-1981 (0.2 linear ft.), Library, 1970-2000 (0.6 linear ft.), Persons, faculty, 1962-2005 (5 linear ft.), Persons, non-faculty, 1986-2001 (0.1 linear ft.), Programs and events, 1972-2002 (0.3 linear ft.), Publications, 1971-2000 (0.6 linear ft.), Research projects, 1982-1997 (1 linear ft.), Rodney, Walter, Student Essay Competition, 1985-1997 (0.1 linear ft.), Study abroad, 1986-2005 (0.4 linear ft.), Working papers, 1990-1998 (1.1 linear ft.), Photographs, 1997-1994 (0.8 linear ft.) and Posters, (1 outsized folder).

All of these subseries are arranged alphabetically, with the exception of the Working Papers subseries. That subseries derives from faculty and graduate student conferences and lectures in the 1990s and its arrangement derives from a numbering system used by CAAS. Not all of the papers were transferred, as there are gaps in the sequence.

The records in the largest subseries, Persons, faculty, 1962-2005 (5 linear ft.), are not personnel files and do not contain sensitive information but are primarily biographical, and consist largely of publications by and about faculty members. Occasional administrative records can also be found among the faculty records.

Researchers interested in the history of CAAS will find useful material in the History subseries in Box 16, and in the audio and video recordings relating to the 20th Anniversary of CAAS in 1991. Reports on the results of the Ford Foundation-funded research projects, referenced above in the administrative history of the unit, are given in the Research projects subseries, under the heading "Ford Foundation Project."

The series "Audio recordings on cassettes" contains 486 cassettes, and largely consists of spoken word recordings of talks and professional meetings. Many of these cassettes have been digitized. The quality of these recordings is uneven -- some are very good, and others were made with portable recording equipment by volunteers. Because of uncertainty about the copyright status of these recordings, the digitized files are available for use in the reading room only.

The cassettes are divided into seventeen subseries, arranged chronologically unless otherwise indicated: Early recorded speakers, tapes 1-76, 1975-1984 (arranged alphabetically by speaker's name); Jamaica Study Abroad Program, tapes 77-109, 1991 (arranged by tape number designated by CAAS); Gender and Urban Poverty Conference, tapes 110-116, 1996; Brown bag talks, tapes 117-202, 1986-1995; Dialogue series, tapes 203-221, 1991-1993; Robert Hayden Memorial, tapes 222-235, 1990, Workshop on Strengthening CAAS and Africana Studies at U-M, tapes 236-243, 1989, CAAS Symposium for Black History Month: Black American Families, tapes 244-253, 1991, Inventions of Africa: Africa in the Literatures of the Continent and the Diaspora Workshops, tapes 254-258, 1991-1992, CAAS 20th Anniversary, tapes 259-271, 1991, Race, Culture and the Politics of Intellectual Inquiry Lecture Series, tapes 272-278, 1991-1992, Remapping of Scholarship: African peoples in the Industrial Age, tapes, tapes 279-284, 1994, Graduate Student Conference [became Student of Color of Rackham (SCOR), tapes 285-293, 1991-1993, Barbados, tapes 310-330, 1989, Martin Luther King (MLK) Day, tapes 331-350, 1987-1992, CAAS Mini-course 324: Black Educational Achievement over the Life-Course, tapes 351-361, 1988, and Chronological events, tapes 352-486, 1983-2001. The last named subseries, Chronological events is the largest, comprising 137 recordings. Undated tapes appear at the end of this subseries.