The African American Studies major offers interdisciplinary approaches to the history, culture and contemporary situations of African Americans in South Carolina, the South, the United States, and beyond. Students learn about the African background of New World black communities; the consequences and implications of the African slave trade; and the social, cultural, economic and political life of black people in the United States, from the seventeenth century to the present. Drawing upon the insights of Anthropology, English, History, Religion, and other disciplines, the African American Studies major is designed for highly motivated and intellectually adventurous students who have a serious interest in learning more about African American life.

Faculty in the African American Studies Program specialize in the history and culture of the modern Civil Rights Movement, the Harlem Renaissance and the 1930's, oral history and community studies, and film and literary studies. African American Studies majors will have the opportunity to pursue their own intellectual interest by working closely with these faculty resources.