When Peter U. Gordon began teaching at Kansas University in 1970, people asked him what students would do with an undergraduate degree in African studies.
Now, Gordon and his colleagues in the department of African and African-American studies are planning to add a master's degree.
Despite the success of the department, Gordon said it was a "battle" to command respect of some colleagues and that in general, the scholarship of black professors is not as recognized as that of white professors.
"Anywhere you go in America, you will find a racist scholar," he said. "KU does not have an exemption from that."
Gordon, an associate professor of African and African-American studies with an appointment at the Institute for Life Span Studies, was born in Nigeria and came to the United States in 1960.
He said KU has come a long way in the past 30 years and now is a "beacon of scholarship" in the Midwest for African and African-American studies.
"We are the only one offering a degree in the Big 12," he said. "I think we are doing pretty well. But that is not to say we cannot improve on what we are doing."
Bill Tuttle, professor of American studies, said there were some growing pains in the early years of black studies, but KU has a strong department that also draws on faculty in other fields with expertise in African and African-American studies.
"I think the chancellor is really committed to bolstering African-American studies at KU," he said.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway, who holds a doctorate in English, has written extensively on Zora Neale Hurston, a Harlem Renaissance writer who wrote stories, novels, anthropological folklore and an autobiography. Three years ago, Hemenway traveled to the African nation of Senegal, where he lectured on African-American literature and discussed exchange programs.
Gordon said KU needed to hire more minority faculty members to better prepare students for global careers. He said the United State's war on terrorism highlighted the need for a diverse liberal arts education.
"We need African studies more than we ever did before in terms of understanding non-Western cultures," he said. "If we are going to be the leader of the world, we need to know who we are leading."
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