About Us

Welcome to the Department of Africana Studies at UNC Charlotte, an institutional member of the National Council for Black Studies. Our department was founded in 1969 as a result of activism in the form of student protest and the tireless advocacy of our first director, Dr. Bertha Maxwell-Roddey. As such, we have a continued interest in social issues that connect African diaspora communities – particularly related to the legacies of slavery and colonialism, health and environmental issues, and the law and popular culture.

For more than 50 years, we have offered students a wide range of programs and courses that explore the fascinating and complex experience of peoples of African descent with emphasis on Africa, the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. We take pride in our expanding interdisciplinary and transnational curriculum that provides a range of perspectives. Ours is therefore a comprehensive curriculum geared towards providing students with the skills needed for success in a wide variety of careers.

Thanks to our dedicated and award-wining faculty – scholars and teachers – who put high emphasis on mentoring students, our alumni have gone on to pursue graduate/professional study and careers in community development; federal, state, and city civil services; business; museums and archives; and diplomatic/foreign service; as well as research, journalism, international organizations, law, and teaching.