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“Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” – African proverb

This inaugural issue of the Africana Studies newsletter celebrates those who were willing to lay all on the line, to fight for a space, a place and a future that tells our story: our alumni, professors Deborah Gray-White and Luis Williams, Rodney Young and our honorary member, Professor John Reilly. They are the “shoulders we stand on to stand tall” as we celebrate the Africana Studies department’s 55^th anniversary on the 91���� campus.

In my discussions with Mr. Young about what it was like back then fighting for the creation of the department, he reminisced about how he and others had to become politically savvy, not just in front of the student body to keep the momentum going, but also in Albany, N.Y. He talked about negotiating and navigating, working across the political aisle while walking with political allies.

He said he could not count how many times he traveled to Albany to plead and to pressure. “I just knew we were not going to give up,” he told me. However, he could not have anticipated that their struggle back then would lead to a thriving department today — a department that has seen many discover their stories and voices, like recent graduate Zhiqiao Huang, and many start their career in the pursuit of telling our stories, such as new faculty member Cordelia Martin-Ikpe.

On Oct. 17, 2024, we hosted a two-day anniversary celebration to bring these “forebears” of the department back to campus.

Seeing them all together on that day — the first time some had seen each other in-person in more than 30 years — and witnessing the African drumming and dance welcoming them back to campus and their emotional reaction to it reminded me of the above African proverb. As students, these forebears asked for a single course on Black history or even African dance, with no success. Hearing them discuss their experiences and struggles speaks to how much they achieved, and yet how much is left to be done. Listening to them tell their stories to students emphasized to me the need for spaces and departments such as Africana Studies.

Reclaiming their voices through insightful comments and words of wisdom brought them out of the shadows of history and showed students what they can achieve no matter the challenge and struggle. As living legacies, they connected the dots between the past and present about 91����, SUNY and society at large, offering hope to students, while igniting and reigniting the passion and motivation to keep pushing for a better future. They told their stories in their own words, in a space they never thought could be theirs, correcting misrepresentation and misinformation. They confirmed to all present that Black education matters!