Master's in African-American Studies Degree

African-American Studies Master's Program Information

Graduate students in African-American Studies programs study the experiences of African-Americans and the cultural, social, and political factors that impact them. Often interdisciplinary in nature, master's programs in the discipline draw from fields like political science, history, psychology, and literature. Students are typically expected to complete independent research projects, fulfill foreign language requirements, or pass comprehensive examinations, along with the courses we detail below.

Introduction to African-American Studies

Master's degree students in these programs often begin by completing foundational courses introducing the field and its parameters. Introductory courses cover how the field became an academic area of inquiry and the intellectual approaches that shaped it. These classes may examine prominent figures within the field and academic perspectives on identity formation within the African-American community.

Theoretical Foundations of African-American Studies

Graduate-level programs in African-American Studies emphasize the theories that have emerged from and shaped academic research in the field. Beyond scholars, these classes may review the works of prominent activists and artists throughout history and how they have shaped the study of the African-American experience. Specific topics may include race theory, etymology, and particularism. Students in these courses usually complete critical readings of key studies in the discipline and conduct analyses of these works, often in the form of research papers.

Social Movements and Social Change

Students in these programs usually take one or more courses focused on collective action addressing social inequality and related problems. Courses on social movements may focus on a particular time period like the 1960s and 1970s in the United States or the 19th century in Africa. Alternatively, social change courses may examine leading writers who addressed the issues of the time or the roles of specific groups like women in crafting social movements. Students can expect to analyze case studies to gain a better understanding of how social movements form and evolve.

Research Methods

To prepare students for conducting independent research, African-American Studies programs typically require coursework on the primary methods of inquiry used by scholars in the discipline. Methods courses draw from both the humanities and the social sciences and examine specific topics including oral histories and ethnographic research. Students can expect to review prior studies and to design their own research projects from developing a research question through conducting the study and presenting the results.

African-American History

To enhance their understanding of the African-American experience throughout time, master's students in these programs take at least one course in African-American history. These classes typically examine a broad historical range from American colonization to the present day; topics may include the slave trade, slavery in American before the Civil War, the Jim Crow Era, and the Harlem Renaissance. The course of study may also include prominent ideologies that developed during different time periods and how concepts like gender, class, and freedom evolved.

African-American Women

Classes on African-American women are among these programs' offerings on particular social sub-groups, and courses focused on women examine the roles women have played in African-American culture throughout history. These classes may provide an overview of women's experiences from slavery to contemporary times, or they may take a theoretical approach to analyze women's experiences with racism, sexism, and related issues. Alternatively, these classes may hone in on the contributions of a specific group of women like prominent African-American writers.

African-American Literature

African-American literature courses analyze prominent works of literature composed by African-Americans, investigating the themes and styles within these books, poems, and plays. Specific writers covered may include Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. Students learn to conduct critical readings and communicate their findings in oral and written forms.

Admissions Requirements for African-American Studies Master's Programs

Applicants to these master's programs should hold an undergraduate degree, and programs may require prior relevant coursework and a GPA of at least 3.0. An application package might also need to include letters of recommendation from those familiar with an applicant's academic work and a resume. Some schools request that applicants submit a writing sample demonstrating their academic research and writing skills. Other common requirements include GRE scores, a statement of purpose, and the completion of an interview.

Master's degree programs in African American Studies offer advanced instruction in historical, cultural, and political aspects of the African American experience. Qualified students can expect to complete coursework in history, theory, literature, and research methods typically used to advance the understanding of this multidisciplinary field.