At Texas A&M University, Black history matters. Through research, teaching and working with local communities, the Department of History in the College of Arts and Sciences makes sure that Black experiences are preserved, remembered and shared.
In honor of Black History Month, we reached out to some of the brilliant scholars in our department whose research reflect the tremendous significance of Black History in America and in the world. We asked them to share updates from their current projects. What archival materials were they working with? What important findings were they preparing for publication? Could they share a quick “snapshot” of their work with us?
Dr. Al Broussard shared the following image from his current project. This photograph displays the optimism of Black World War II migrants who left the South and traveled west to pursue a better life. It is also revealing because it portrays the new opportunities available to all women, Black and White, in America’s wartime shipyards and defense industries. Although the classic image of “Rosie the Riveter” was a White female, Black women also contributed to the war effort and sought to improve their lives and shape their future.
Dr. Rebecca Schloss shared the following photograph of the 27 April 1848 decree officially abolishing chattel slavery in the French Empire. This decree emancipated approximately 250,000 enslaved individuals of African descent in French colonies in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and on the African continent. It was one of a number of efforts the French Provisional Government took to more broadly implement the French ideals of "liberty, equality, and brotherhood," in the wake of the February 1848 revolution. Dr. Schloss’s research explores, in part, how daily life in Martinique, one of France's Caribbean holdings, changed in the immediate aftermath of the decree's promulgation.
Dr. Takkara Brunson’s research considers how Black Cuban individuals used photography to engage ideas of citizenship from the 1890s up until the 1959 Revolution. Cubans of African descent took on prominent roles as soldiers and civic activists during the Wars for Independence (1868-1898) against Spain. The men who appear in the photographs represent a cross-racial alliance of Cubans who sought to prepare themselves for participation in an independent nation through education, as well by giving speeches and writing for political publications.
Dr. Justin Randolph shared this photo of two state policemen watching on as the Blues artist B. B. King performs for prisoners at Parchman penitentiary in 1980. Such an image would have been unthinkable for the previous century, when southern society reserved such positions of police authority for white men. Dr. Randolph is currently collecting oral history interviews with the first generation of African American law enforcement officers to work in the South after Jim Crow segregation.
The Department of History at Texas A&M is also involved in events and panels that explore Black History across disciplines and beyond the University.
Throughout February, Dr. Jessica Ray Herzogenrath will co-direct “The Heartbeat: A Cultural Revival, ”an exhibition & performance series at the Parker Astin in Bryan, Texas, and at the Physical Education Activity Program building on campus. Please reach out to Dr. Herzogenrath at jessicaray@tamu.edu for more information.
Dr. Takkara Brunson will facilitate a talk by Dr. Mónica A. Jiménez from University of Texas at Austin, titled “Making Never-Never Land: Race and Law in the Creation of Puerto Rico.” The talk is presented by the Caribbean and Atlantic Studies Working Group at the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research and the Race and Ethnic Studies Institute. To be held at GLAS 311 on Friday, February 21st from 3-5pm, all are encouraged to attend. Please reach out to Dr. Brunson at tbrunson@tamu.edu for more information.
Dr. Angela P. Hudson will also participate in a day-long symposium hosted by The Indigenous Studies Working Group, “Conversations at the Intersection of Black and Indigenous Studies.” This interdisciplinary symposium will bring together scholars and activists working at the intersection of Black and Indigenous politics, history and life. For more information, please reach out to Dr. Ray Leonard at rayleonard@tamu.edu.
In addition to these events and research projects, Department of History faculty at Texas A&M also contribute their teaching expertise in a variety of courses on Black history and Africana studies. In Spring of 2025, the Department of History offers the following courses:
- HIST280 Historian’s Craft: Visualizing the Black Diaspora
- HIST301 Blacks in the United States, 1877-Present
- AFST/HIST/WGST 377 Africana Women’s History