“Mainstreaming Black Women’s Studies” Through Spelman College’s Women’s Research and Resource Center, 1982–1990 (Poster 29)

• In Event: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research
  In Invited Poster Session: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research Poster Session

Abstract

This paper surveys the establishment of Black Women’s Studies as an academic discipline to recover its significance in extending and realizing the aims of the mid 20th century Black Studies and Women’s Studies movements. Through an examination of grant applications and reports, I detail Black Feminist scholars’ meticulous efforts to develop and integrate a Black Women focused lens into existing curriculum at Spelman College through the Women’s Research and Resource Center from 1982 to 1990. I ultimately assert that the establishment of Black Women’s Studies curriculum signaled a victory for the Black Studies and Women’s Studies Movements that effectuated lasting, progressive change in higher education and thereby enabled greater longevity and progressive change in both movements writ large.

Author

• La'Nora Jefferson, Rutgers University