First of all, I want to thank Dr. Shiame Okunor and previous directors for setting the foundation for the future growth of this program. I am constantly amazed at the amount of work that these directors completed with limited or no new resources. Indeed, without the support of former director Dr. Harold Bailey, we would not have been able to acquire many of the resources we have acquired in the past two years. In particular, Dr. Bailey's office should be thanked for securing the resources Africana Studies will use to acquire important materials from the Black Panther Party Archive.
Our collection will be like no other collection in the country. Last year Representatives Jane Powdrell-Culbert and Sheryl Williams-Stapleton worked closely together to propose legislation amounting to more than $1,000,000.00 to directly support Africana Studies. While much of their work met with resistance, Africana Studies did receive new resources to start a Summer SAT Prep program and to build a distance learning facility that we hope will allow us to reach Black communities across the state, penitentiaries, and other colleges and universities with academic programming. I want to add here that Representative Stapleton courageously and effectively challenged the University of New Mexico to provide more support for Africana Studies than it has done in the past.
As a direct result of her tireless efforts and for the first time in its history, UNM has placed Africana Studies on its list of legislative priorities (1 of only 19 such priorities) for this coming legislative session. While much is left to be done, this gesture on the part of UNM is encouraging. The coming year promises to be a bright one for Africana Studies…perhaps even by the time you are reading this, the Africana Studies Faculty Initiative will have passed.
We began the year with the traditional Black History Month Brunch in January. Our theme this year is "Remembering our Roots; Preparing for Our Future." This theme worked well with this year's guest speaker being actor and director LeVar Burton. Hard to believe, but this year marks the 30th anniversary of the historic and groundbreaking television premier of Alex Haley's epic "Roots." Burton's role as Kunte Kinte is one of the most memorable in American cinematic history. His PBS series Reading Rainbow literally spans generations of American children and his role as Geordi LeForge on Star Trek: The Next Generation has made him a cultural icon around the world. We would like to thank those who joined us in welcoming Mr. Burton to our community during the Black History Month Kickoff Brunch.
On a final note, after more than two years of work, Africana Studies will debut the University's newest curriculum in the fall of 2008. If all goes well, we will be bringing in at least one new faculty member at
the end of next summer.
Peace and Much Respect!
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