The Berkley Black Student Collaboratory (BBSC) is looking for passionate, committed undergraduates to serve as mentors for local Black high school students engaged in Black Studies. The BBSC is a collaboration between the African American Studies Departments of Berkeley High School and UC Berkeley, along with African American Student Development, Cal BSU, and People's Programs, funded by a Chancellor's Community Partnership grant.
As a mentor you will:
Share your knowledge and experience with Black youth interested in Black Studies Help students navigate academic pathways with...
Our August 2025 Departmental Spotlight features our newest faculty member, Assistant Professor, Darlène Dubuisson, interviewed by Graduate Student Endria Richardson.
Who do you love? Writers, thinkers, artists, parents, friends—who has inspired you to be in the world the way that you are?
What a delightful question. I love my two boys, partner, and myself, of course. I also love my small group of dear friends—strong, intelligent women who treat me with sisterly (and sometimes motherly) care despite being so far away, in different states, countries,...
The Banned Scholars Project in the Department of African American Studies at UC Berkeley is pleased to announce the In Defense of Black Studies Small Grants Program. The program will accept applications from undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff at UC Berkeley conducting projects that affirm and model the significance of Black study in light of the recently reinvigorated attacks against it. These grants of up to $1,000 will support research, teaching, curriculum development, and related projects...
On March 19 and April 17, 2025, faculty from African American Studies, Gender and Women's Studies, and Ethnic Studies (A.G.E.S.) at the University of California, Berkeley, participated in two Rise Up for Education Rally/Teach-ins organized by the Berkeley Faculty for the Freedom to Learn. "The Berkeley Faculty for the Freedom to Learn is a coalition of faculty from UC Berkeley coming together out of a sense of mounting alarm at the wholesale attack by the Trump administration on higher education around the country. We...
This month's departmental spotlight by Endria Richardson features A.G.E.S. Administrative Director Sandra Richmond, who is retiring in June 2025.
Who do you love? Writers, thinkers, artists, parents, friends—who has inspired you to be in the world the way that you are?
A better question is who don't I love! I love everyone...there isn't a human being I can't find loveable or huggable or beautiful. The rando road rager is as loveable as a newborn, to me. I love writers, thinkers, artists, parents, friends, and most of all, my...
Hundreds of faculty and students flooded UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza on Wednesday to defend academic freedom and free speech amid the Trump administration’s escalating threats to withhold funding from the campus.
Both UC Berkeley and UCLA are among the 10 universities under investigation by the Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism after the Justice Department alleged that the schools failed to protect Jewish students during the widespread pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses last spring. UC Berkeley is also the subject of another investigation from the Department of...
Stephen Small, African American Studies professor, speaks about his book, In the Shadows of the Big House.
In this interview, Stephen Small shares the inspirations behind In the Shadows of the Big House(link is external), a compelling and deeply researched work that examines the representation of slavery in contemporary heritage tourism. Drawing from decades of...
UC Berkeley African American Studies Alumna J Finley began her career researching reparations and the legacy of slavery. But after studying how Black people navigate and resist oppression, she was eventually drawn to a subject – and a form of resistance – that was personally meaningful to her: comedy. As someone long drawn to comedy shows, Finley committed herself to collecting and honoring the stories Black women tell about themselves by becoming an audience member, critic and comedian herself.
Based on her research and experiences, Finley published the book...
Black women's humor is “an embodied expression of resilience at the moment of crisis," says J Finley, an associate professor at Pomona College and author of the 2024 book Sass
This month's departmental spotlight by Endria Richardson features graduating senior and Clark Scholar Amber Griffin-Royal.
Tell me about your work. What do you care about in the world, and how did you come to care about it?
I’m a third-generation Oakland native and an award-winning DJ/performing artist, and I often find myself reminiscing with friends and family about how Oakland used to sound—and dreaming about what the future might hold. DJing has become my way of making sense of what’s happening to...
