Overview
Jenna Rossi (American Studies), Interim Program Director
The minor in African American (AFAM) studies offers an intersectional perspective on the life, history, and culture primarily of people of African descent in the United States. AFAM uses an interdisciplinary lens to excavate, interrogate, and evaluate the literary, social, educational, psychological, political and economic development, and well-being of African Americans.
Students who minor in AFAM complete 18 credit hours of coursework providing a comprehensive liberal arts education that illuminates the complexity of race, class, privilege, and power for people of African descent living in America. The minor includes course selections from a number of departments, including American studies, English, history, religion, sociology et al.
Students are also introduced to and research the legacies, landmarks, and leaders that represent the rich Afro-Rochester history that includes Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass, Fannie Barrier Williams, Jerome and Hester Jeffery, Howard Coles, Bessie Hamm and more.