In October the community at California State University Northridge celebrated the 46th anniversary of its African American Studies Department, giving students and staff the opportunity to meet the new chair, Sylvia McCauley but more significantly, commemorating the students in 1968 who affected change at the school and who were instrumental in creating the department.
“Our Africana studies program was demanded by students who knew the importance of our unique existence in institutions of higher education and is an illustration of collective engagement and determination,” recalled CSUN Africana Studies Professor Cedric D. Hackett.
Hackett along with students and faculty of the AAS department said this year’s theme, Sankofa 2.0, encompasses the past, present and future of the communities’ struggle toward upward mobility and racial uplift.
“With the emergenced of social media and the hashtag ‘Black Lives Matter”, social justice has reached new heights,” they said.
“The department of Africana Studies has been maintained through professors’ dedication, sustained by students’ strong presence and promoted by the Black Student Union. With this, the social media platform has evolved in the way we see activism and awareness today: living in the now. We celebrate together those who fought for a Black Studies program and those who continue to advocate for change…”