Black
Lives
matter
“When we view our living in the european mode, only as problems to be solved, we rely solely upon our ideas to make us free, for these were what the white fathers told us were precious. But as we come more into touch with our own ancient and original non-european view of living as a situation to be experienced and interacted with, we learned more and more to cherish our feelings, and to respect those hidden and deep sources of our power from whence true knowledge and, therefore, lasting action comes.”
Audre Lorde "Poetry is Not a Luxury,” Sister Outsider (1984)
“I guess I don’t like taking what I’m given. That’s why I’m hoping there will be more black s.f. (science fiction) writers, more black writers period. Any minority group needs people who can speak from the group’s perspective, maybe not speak for the whole group, but at least from a certain point of view and experiences.”
Octavia Butler “Sci-Fi Visions: An Interview with Octavia Butler,”
Conversations with Octavia Butler (2010)
“I am not wrong: Wrong is not my name
My name is my own my own my own
and I can’t tell you who the hell set things up like this
but I can tell you that from now on my resistance
my simple and daily and nightly self-determination
may very well cost you your life”
June Jordan “Poem about My Rights,” The Collected Poems of June Jordan (2005)
"We need to acknowledge those power differences between us and see where they lead us...I’m talking about Black women’s blood flowing in the streets—and how do we get a 14-year-old boy to know I am not the legitimate target of his fury? The boot is on both of our necks. Let’s talk about getting it off. My blood will not wash out your horror."
Audre Lorde Revolutionary Hope: A Conversation Between Audre Lorde and James Baldwin, Essence Magazine (1985)
"Perhaps the single most important reason the Black Movement did not work was that Black men did not realize they could not wage struggle without the full involvement of women."
Michele Wallace Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman (1979)
“It’s not that we haven’t always been here, since there was a here. It is that the letters of our name have been scrambled when they were not totally erased, and our fingerprints upon the handles of history have been called the random brushings of birds.”
Audre Lorde Wild Women in the Whirlwind: Afra-American Culture and the Contemporary Literary Renaissance (1990)
“After all, radical simply means 'grasping things at the root.'”
Angela Y. Davis Let Us All Rise Together: Radical Perspectives on Empowerment for Afro-American Women in Women, Culture, & Politics (1990)
“What is needed are new questions and a new angle of vision…”
Beverly Guy-Sheftall “African-American Studies: Legacies & Challenges: “What Would Black Studies Be If We’d Listened to Toni Cade” in The Black Scholar (2015)
“It is always through art that society changes-not politics or even education. Art, and music especially, speaks to people more than government and education.”
Nina Simone I Got Thunder: Black Women Songwriters On Their Craft edited by LaShonda K. Barnett (2007)
“I deeply hope that more of us will want to learn to protect Black language. If we lose our fluency in our language, we may irreversibly forsake elements of the spirit that have provided for our survival.”
June Jordan "White English/ Black English: The Politics of Translation," Civil Wars (1972)
“I write for young girls of color, for girls who don’t even exist yet, so that there is something there for them when they arrive.”
Ntozake Shange “Back at You” interview with Rebecca Carroll, Mother Jones (1995)
![“Research is a formalized curiosity. It is a poking and prying with a purpose. It is a seeking that [s]he who wishes may know the cosmic secrets of the world and they that dwell within.” Zora Neale Hurston Dust Tracks on a Road (1942)](https://cdn.casl.cal.msu.edu/uploads/sites/2/sites/43/2021/10/Zora-Hurston_Circle.png)
“Research is a formalized curiosity. It is a poking and prying with a purpose. It is a seeking that [s]he who wishes may know the cosmic secrets of the world and they that dwell within.”
Zora Neale Hurston Dust Tracks on a Road (1942)
MAKING THE REVOLUTION IRRESISTIBLE
The Department of African American and African Studies is truly invested in how we can do higher education differently. We focus on Black feminisms, Black genders, and Black sexuality studies addressing important and often underexplored aspects of Black Studies. We work to cultivate imagination, which gives students tools to actually see, feel, and experience the world as it ought to be, as they want it to be, not how it is.
Sonic Introductions
In AAAS, we know you want an education that recognizes you as a whole person with brilliant ideas, creative vision, and a desire to remain connected to the people who support your growth. In order to achieve these goals, music helps us all to survive, thrive, inspire, move, remember, and feel. Sound and feeling music can be great sources of knowledge, motivators for study, and energies for living.
The problem is schooling often drains us of our spirit and creative energy by promoting a life of the mind detached from heart and all that our hands can make. In AAAS, we are scholars, artists, activists, and cultural workers who appreciate a good sound. That’s why we created these sonic introductions.
Here’s how it works:
Press play, listen deeply, and enjoy the music and sounds that reflect our love of self, community, and AAAS!
Ruth Nicole Brown
phd
Chairperson
Suban Nur Cooley
phd
Assistant Professor
LeConté Dill
DrPH
Associate Professor
Olivia Furman
phd
Post-Doc/Research Associate
Natasha N. Jones
phd
Associate Professor
Chamara Jewel Kwakye
phd
Assistant Professor
Sheri Lewis
phd
Assistant Professor
Gianina K.L. Strother
Assistant Professor
Renée Wilmot
phd
Assistant Professor
Mia Shaw
phd
Assistant Professor
Alexis Young
phd
Assistant Professor
M.Billye SankofaWaters
phd
Associate Professor
Audio curation and mixing by Blair E. Smith, PHD
Interested in following these sounds?
(sounds sourced)
Our AAAS Bookshelf
Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths (SOLHOT) is a space to celebrate Black girlhood in all of its complexity with Black girls and those who love and support us. In SOLHOT we dance, sing, discuss important issues, create art, and organize together to improve the communities of which we are a part. We do what needs to be done. The process of doing SOLHOT involves being together and deciding what our work will be based on the gifts, talents, and ideas of those who show up. More than anything we value Black girls’ lives and create spaces to affirm Black girl genius.
Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths (SOLHOT) is a space to celebrate Black girlhood in all of its complexity with Black girls and those who love and support us. In SOLHOT we dance, sing, discuss important issues, create art, and organize together to improve the communities of which we are a part. We do what needs to be done. The process of doing SOLHOT involves being together and deciding what our work will be based on the gifts, talents, and ideas of those who show up. More than anything we value Black girls’ lives and create spaces to affirm Black girl genius.
The mission of The Feminist Wire is to provide socio-political and cultural critique of anti-feminist, racist, and imperialist politics pervasive in all forms and spaces of private and public lives of individuals globally. Of particular critical interest to us are social and political phenomena that block, negate, or limit the satisfaction of goods or ends that humans, especially the most vulnerable, minimally require for living free of structural violence. The Feminist Wire seeks to valorize and sustain pro-feminist representations and create alternative frameworks to build a just and equitable society.
featured News
College Begins 2026-27 Academic Year with New Programs, People, and Possibilities
A new academic year brings new beginnings and Fall 2026 marks an especially significant moment for Michigan State University’s College of Arts and Letters. Students are returning to a college that has grown in scope, with new academic programs, newly housed majors, and expanded opportunities. The year also brings a new slate of performances, exhibitions, and other creative and academic experiences.
More than a Residency: SOLHOT 60+ Creates Space for Art and Sisterhood
When Sharon Simeon helped create a glass vessel at the Flint Institute of Arts, the other SOLHOT 60+ artists gathered around to watch and support her. They cheered as the hot glass expanded, held their breath when the piece nearly fell, and applauded when it was complete. “The women were so supportive. When it was over, they applauded. There were tears,” Simeon said. “It was like they were my doulas, so I called them my ‘glass doulas’ because they saw the birth of this piece. It was amazing support and love.” For Simeon, that moment reflected the larger sense of sisterhood she has experienced through the SOLHOT 60+ residency. That encouragement is at the heart of the weeklong artist residency now in its third year. Ruth Nicole Brown, a Michigan State University Foundation Distinguished Professor and the inaugural chair of the Department of African American and African Studies in the
Arts and Humanities in Action: How MSU’s College of Arts and Letters Is Shaping Michigan’s Future
The impact of Michigan State University’s College of Arts and Letters extends far beyond campus. Across Michigan, students, faculty, and alumni are putting the arts and humanities to work through education, language access, accessibility, public engagement, and creative partnerships that preserve cultural heritage, expand opportunity, strengthen communities, and prepare the next generation of leaders. “The arts, culture, and humanities enrich our lives by helping us better understand ourselves and others, appreciate different perspectives, and find meaning and common ground in an increasingly divided world,” said Thomas Stubblefield, Dean of the College of Arts and Letters. “They foster a stronger sense of belonging, strengthen our communities, and help ensure that Michigan remains a place where people want to build their futures.” The College of Arts and Letters’ work demonstrates the essential role the arts and humanities play at a public, land-grant university — not simply generating knowledge, but putting knowledge, creativity,
EVENTS
Ruth Nicole Brown
phd
Faculty
Tamura Lomax
phd
Faculty
April Baker Bell
phd
Faculty
