Black Studies

Welcome Message from Dr. Joseph Jewell, Department Head

Black Studies is essential training for living and working in the 21^st Century. The Department of Black Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago is at the cutting edge of research and teaching about today’s most pressing issues:

• global protests to save Black lives
• mass incarceration
• health disparities in the age of COVID-19
• school-to-prison pipeline
• slavery and reparations
• Black arts and performance
• queer Black life
• immigrants and refugees
• Blackness in the media
• teaching Black history
• Black communities and politics
• feminist leadership and legacies

We focus on the history, culture and politics of African-descended people in the Americas and around the globe in the quest for a more just and equitable world. Join Us!