Black Studies Minor

To change the world, first you must understand it. The interdisciplinary field of Black Studies focuses on the work, history, and experiences of African-descended people—a global majority whose diverse perspectives and contributions have long been underrepresented. Whether you take one course or pursue a minor, you will gain insight into Black history and culture in the United States, Africa, and throughout the African diaspora in all parts of the world.

Portrait of Trent Masiki, Director of the Black Studies Program and Assistant Professor of English

“It is important for students to understand that contemporary Black America is not an ethnic monolith because that awareness has the potential to increase social cohesion, build interethnic solidarity, and foster an historical consciousness. Ethnic diversity within the Black American demographic increased dramatically after 1965. Africana studies courses can not only teach students how and why that demographic shift happened, but also help them understand the enriching impact it continues to have on American literature and culture.”

Trent Masiki
Director of the Black Studies Program and Assistant Professor of English

Read a Q and A with Professor Masiki to learn more about what's next for the Black Studies program.

As a student in Suffolk’s Black Studies program, you will:

  • Examine the complexities of identity and develop a deeper understanding of our interconnected global community
  • Learn to conduct research, analyze historical events with accuracy, and ask probing questions
  • Turn a critical eye toward every source when delving into academic databases and archival collections
  • Become immersed in Boston’s Black history at sites like the Museum of African American History just steps from campus
  • Be inspired by visiting speakers, artists, writers, and performers
  • Form powerful connections with classmates and program alumni

Experience is Everything

Charles Yancey, Boston’s longest-serving city councilor, leads students on a journey from abolitionism to today’s anti-racist movement in his course Black Politics in Boston.

Students strike a pose in front of the Contemplative Court at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. on a trip with The Washington Center.

Transcript 0:05 the National Park Service we had to
0:06 preserve America's cultural resources
0:08 specifically at Boston african-american
0:10 National Historic Site what we are
0:12 preserving is a story a story of the
0:15 free african-american community that
0:17 lived here on the North Slope of Beacon
0:19 Hill the men and women who live here led
0:22 a social revolution that was felt
0:24 locally in the form of one of the United
0:25 States first true civil rights movements
0:27 and nationally in the fight against the
0:29 institution of slavery community justice
0:39 together next
0:42 abolitionists we're so willing to turn
0:45 their homes into stops to the
0:47 Underground Railroad because they knew
0:49 it could be so dangerous their travel to
0:53 freedom this was truly the Freedom Trail
0:57 for them we always like to take people
1:00 down because of really the historical
1:02 significance this is also a part of the
1:04 Underground Railroad as you're walking
1:05 through here you're walking in the
1:07 footsteps of individuals that 150 years
1:09 ago would have been using this because
1:12 for them for some this space Holmes
1:15 alleyway was the only difference between
1:17 enslavement and freedom it kind of feels
1:23 safe in here so I kind of understand why
1:27 they would use this trail to get to the
1:31 meeting house because they knew they
1:34 could send fugitive slaves from their
1:37 homes to the meeting house and they
1:39 would be safe and that was the most
1:43 important thing in Boston keeping
1:45 fugitive slaves safe because who else
1:49 was going to if it wasn't the people
1:51 that had the power to make a difference
1:54 which is why white abolitionists were
1:57 able to make a difference and black ones
1:59 as well every time I come here I just
2:03 want to touch it because it just makes
2:05 you feel like safe but at the same time
2:08 not safe like it could just close in on
2:12 you at any time which might be how they
2:15 felt at any second at the end of that
2:18 trail could be a friend or a foe it
2:20 could be someone who wanted them
2:23 captured or someone who wanted them free
2:26 so it's like as as safe as this trail
2:30 feels it kind of feels eerie and you can
2:33 tell people who walks through went
2:37 through a lot to get here a lot of
2:39 danger to get here the african-american
2:42 meeting house is one of my favorite
2:44 stops
2:45 on the Black Heritage Trail in Boston
2:47 because it's where everyone came
2:50 together people's lives were changed
2:53 fugitive slaves would come here seeking
2:56 all different types of advice and
2:59 guidance and they received it here
3:03 garrison like many others here in this
3:06 neighborhood he recognizes the power of
3:08 an idea he wrote we have met tonight in
3:12 this obscure schoolhouse though our
3:15 numbers are few and our influence
3:16 limited mark my prediction Fanueil Hall
3:20 shall ere long echo with the principles
3:23 we have set forth here we shall shake
3:27 the nation to its mighty power
Students walk the Black Heritage Trail and explore the central role Beacon Hill played in the nineteenth-century abolitionist movement.
Students walk the Black Heritage Trail and explore the central role Beacon Hill played in the nineteenth-century abolitionist movement.

The Black Student Union and the Caribbean Student Network aim to promote the cultures of the African Diaspora and empower the Black student body and the whole Suffolk community through student-led service, education, and celebration.

Black Studies and Biology double minor Nicholas Nunez interned at Middleton Place – a former rice plantation outside of Charleston, South Carolina – and helped reinterpret and redesign the educational displays of the plantation’s agricultural history.

Launched in 2018, the Suffolk University Black Alumni Network brings current and future Black alumni together for mentoring, philanthropy, volunteering, and community engagement opportunities.

Black Studies Program Overview

 

Who should take the Black Studies minor?

Black Studies is an interdisciplinary program that can complement any major. Students frequently pair the minor with a major in political science, history, sociology, and politics, philosophy, and economics. Students also find that employers within a wide variety of industries – including the arts and media, business, law, psychology, economics, and even the laboratory sciences – increasingly value the cross-disciplinary perspective and skill set this program provides.

The Minor

The Black Studies minor is a five course (20 credit) program that you can tailor to your academic interests and goals. You’ll start out with two introductory courses to gain a strong foundation in the discipline, then choose three electives. Our courses are developed by faculty from many fields, exploring every angle of the discipline and addressing today’s most pressing topics. Recent course offerings include: Race, Economics, and Politics in Boston: 1950s to the 21st Century; Western African History through Film and Literature; and "Back to Africa" to "Black Lives Matter": A Global History of Panafricanism.
View the Black Studies Minor Curriculum

Our Students & Alumni



Beyond the Classroom

Celebration of Black Excellence

Download the video transcript [PDF] 

Nearly 30 years ago, passionate students and faculty led the way in establishing the Black Studies program. Join today’s students and alumni as you carry on that legacy of community-building and informed activism.

Get Involved

Learn more about Suffolk’s student organizations, including the:

  • African Student Association
  • Black Student Union
  • Caribbean Students Network
  • Ethiopian-Eritrean Student Association
  • Student Government

You can also connect with members of the Suffolk University Black Alumni Network (SUBAN), which celebrates and serves current and future Black alumni through events, mentoring, philanthropy and volunteerism.

 

At Suffolk, you’ll find yourself at the center of Boston’s Black history. And you’ll meet fellow students, as well as our alumni and friends, who are doing critical work at Boston’s most important historic and cultural sites, such as:

Museum of African American History
Less than a ten minute walk from campus, the Museum of African American History is dedicated to preserving, conserving and accurately interpreting the contributions of African Americans in New England from the colonial period through the 19th century.

Boston African American Historic Site, National Park Service
This landmark of roughly two dozen sites in our Beacon Hill neighborhood is the largest area of pre-Civil War black-owned structures in the US.

A selection of African American literature placed on a table

Created by Suffolk University, the Museum of African American History, and the National Park Service’s Boston African American Historic Site, the Clark Collection of African American Literature contains more than 6,000 volumes representing 1,200 African American authors. It is housed on campus at the Mildred F. Sawyer Library and accessible to all students.

Holdings range from oral histories and personal essays to poetry, musical lyrics, drama and fiction, including:

  • A first edition copy of W.E.B Du Bois’ landmark work The Souls of Black Folk
  • Early editions from poet, novelist, and playwright Paul Lawrence Dunbar, poet Countee Cullen, and Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes
  • A separate bibliography to catalog the works of Black writers from Massachusetts and neighboring states
  • A complete series of The Monthly Offering, an abolitionist periodical published in Boston from 1840-42
  • Unpublished manuscripts, including eight by Boston artist-historian Allan Rohan Crite
  • Contemporary works from emerging writers

Front page of The Boston Chronicle from 1957

The Boston Chronicle Newspaper

The Boston Chronicle Newspaper (1932-1966) was founded and published by early West Indian immigrants in Boston, including Thaddeus Kitchener, Suffolk’s first Black graduate. Suffolk has digitized over 1000 issues, which contain a wealth of information on Black Bostonians, Black-owned businesses, politics, social ads, events, sports, and more.

The Freedmen’s Bureau Microfilm Collection

Partnering with the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society’s New England chapter, the Mildred F. Sawyer Library is home to the Freedmen’s Bureau Microfilm Collection. The collection includes thousands of original, handwritten documents that recount the African American experience in the post-civil war and Reconstruction eras.

Boston Busing Crisis in the Moakley Papers

The Moakley Archive and Institute has many resources that illustrate the controversy surrounding school desegregation in Boston during the 1970s.

Suffolkate  

Suffolkate was a limited-run alternative student newspaper funded by the Student Bar Association and created by black Suffolk University Law School students from 1970-1972.


Annual Events

Each year, we come together to honor individual and collective achievements through several events, such as the Celebration of Black Excellence, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration, the 1913 Graduation Celebration, and RAM Inclusion Week.


Questions? Get in touch!

Portrait of Trent Masiki, Director of the Black Studies Program and Assistant Professor of English

Trent Masiki

Director of the Black Studies Program
Assistant Professor of English 

Send a Message

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