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Photo by Reed Hutchinson
UCLA Photographic Services
Brenda Stevenson is head of African-American studies. |
New support for african-american studies
Scholar brings history to life
by Meg Sullivan
ucla toda
As a child, Brenda Stevenson traveled every summer to the South
Carolina plantation where her great-grandmother was sold into slavery
— and sexual brutality — at 15.
With a slave cemetery nearby and fields still planted in tobacco
and sugar cane, the site that remains in her family to this day
helped bring history to life for Stevenson.
“When we were young, my father used to say to my mother,
‘Oh, let’s not talk about those old stories!’
” Stevenson recalled. “But I was captivated. My mother’s
stories framed my consciousness. I’m passing them on to my
daughter.”
So it’s not surprising that the historian who specializes
in the history of American slavery — particularly of women
— was recently selected to head UCLA’s prestigious African
American Studies Program, which today marks the 30th anniversary
of its founding.
For students in African-American history courses at UCLA, the warm,
engaging author of “Life in Black and White: Family and Community
in the Slave South” (Oxford University Press) and a forthcoming
history of American female slavery is a living embodiment of history.
“When I tell students about my family’s history, they
always say, ‘Oh, my gosh! You make the past seem so immediate.’
”
Still, the former chair of the History Department has her work
cut out for her in a program comprised mostly of faculty with primary
appointments in other units.
As recently as a decade ago, the program at UCLA, which was an
important incubator for both the Black Panther Party and the US
Organization, a black nationalist group, ranked third in the nation.
But well-endowed private institutions have repeatedly lured away
prominent senior faculty. Administrators have hired promising new
faculty, but they’re at the junior level, and the program’s
reliance on part-time faculty has increased. The program is now
in the top 10 nationwide, administrators say.
Beyond that, overall African-American enrollment continues to lag
at UCLA in the wake of Proposition 209. For the past two years,
fewer African-American freshmen have enrolled than in the 30 years
since UCLA started tracking the ethnicity of incoming freshmen.
With state support inextricably tied to enrollment, funding levels
have stalled.
“If they’re not getting into the university, it’s
hard to get them to our classes,” Stevenson said.
But if anybody’s up to the task, colleagues say it’s
the accomplished scholar with a track record of overcoming adversity.
This, after all, is a woman who attended segregated schools until
ninth grade, but nonetheless managed to get elected vice president
of her newly integrated high school and serve as a cheerleader and
graduate valedictorian.
With support from the College’s development team, Stevenson
is hoping to put new emphasis on cultivation and recruitment for
the teaching unit.
“This responsibility weighs on me a great deal,” Stevenson
said. “I feel like I’m trying to hold things together
with bubble gum, but I love this work.”
The African American Studies Program’s 30th anniversary
event, featuring keynote speaker Danny Bakewell, will take place
today from 2:30-5 p.m. at the Faculty Center. |
