'A Powerful Opportunity'

Lehigh’s Africana Studies program has been awarded a prestigious $500,000 challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency that funds high-quality research, education and public programs at universities and other institutions across the country.

The three-to-one matching grant will require Lehigh to raise $1.5 million over the next five years. The funds will be used to create an endowment to expand the Africana Studies program, including enhancing curriculum, increasing public humanities initiatives and strengthening the program’s community partnerships to further explore public concerns and social justice issues related to race, politics, gender, religion and other areas.

“The significance of the award acknowledges both the historical efforts of Africana Studies scholars at Lehigh—Bill Scott, Ted Morgan, Kashi Johnson and many others—and the promising future that Africana Studies has as a public-facing program committed to the interface between university and community,” said James B. Peterson, director of Africana Studies and associate professor of English.

Peterson is principal investigator of the challenge grant. Monica Miller, assistant professor of religion and Africana Studies, and Susan Kart, assistant professor of art, architecture and design, are co-principal investigators.

Plans include public humanities programs, workshops, digital documentations, visiting and graduate fellows, research grants and community partnerships.

“This grant offers a powerful opportunity to truly transform Africana Studies at Lehigh,” said Donald E. Hall, the Herbert J. and Ann L. Siegel Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “It is acknowledgment of the hard work by all of the faculty in Africana Studies and recognizes their efforts to develop interdisciplinary education and scholarship in an inclusive and diverse setting.”

Africana Studies as an academic discipline grew out of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when public demonstrations underscored the need for serious academic analysis of the structural oppression of black people.

In 2011, Lehigh opened a new chapter in its increasing commitment to diversity and interdisciplinary education when it selected Africana Studies as its first academic “cluster,” bringing together scholars/faculty in English, history, religion studies, theater, journalism, and art, architecture and design.

Over the past four years, the program has developed powerful public programming, including a 2015 conference on Malcolm X's life and legacy that attracted scholars from around the world.

“Our commitment has always been to be public facing in our programs—to engage and interact with our local schools, churches and community organizations in a deliberate effort to create programs, develop new initiatives, and build knowledge together,” said Peterson. “Winning the NEH challenge means that we will be able to sustain and enhance this commitment well into the future.”