Blog #1

I started out my black studies career winter quarter of my freshman year. The very first class I took was black studies one with Professor Banks. Contrary to the hype about her perception among students, Professor Banks instantly became one of my favorite professors. Aside from the content that I found radically different from any black history I learned prior to UCSB, I really appreciated the standard to which she held her students and their work. Professor Banks did something none of my professors thus far were able to do. She inspired me intellectually, demanded my attention, and set her class expectations far above any level that had ever been required of me before. As I continued in the black studies department I found that many of my professors demanded the same level of participation, work content and intellectual rigor that Prof. Banks did, and that compiled with material I found relatable, interesting and emotionally stimulating, aided in my desire to pursue a major in black studies in conjunction with political science. 

The next class that I took that had a significant impact in my understanding of what black studies meant to me and how I perceived blackness globally was Africa and US policy with Prof. McCauley. This course was my first upper division class in the major and I also needed it as a pre-requisite for my Ghana Immersion Study abroad program. This course radically changed the way I viewed black studies and allowed me to make connections with material I was learning in the political science department. 

Some of the other courses I’ve taken in the black studies department include women’s political body with Prof. Banks, black social experience with Prof. McCauley and education of the black child with Prof. H. Johnson. These courses stand out to me most because they were courses that had a significant impact on my view of myself,  background and community.