LSU graduate students, faculty come together to form new Black History Research and Writers Group

Graduate students smiling after a meeting. 

A group of LSU graduate students in the United States history cohort and faculty members joined together to create a new Black History Research and Writers Group at LSU.

The group was inspired by history graduate student Justin Martin’s experience in African American Studies as an undergraduate student and in the Department of History as a new graduate student.

As an undergraduate, Martin said the African/African American Studies department had a community of students studying Black history and culture. When he discovered that half of the new American History cohort was studying Black history, he found that other universities have official and unofficial Black history or writing groups.

“Coming from African/African American studies, which is kind of a smaller department, I realized how important it was to have a community where we can talk about what we were working on, meet people with similar interests and have a community but also share ideas,”  Martin said.

Initially, the group will start with sharing, working on and getting feedback from one another. In the long run, they hope to undertake projects centered around their research and topics surrounding the LSU and Baton Rouge communities.

The group plans to meet once a month for an hour to discuss projects they are working on individually, such as papers and presentations. Other discussions will include recent books relevant to their studies and Black history.

“Some faculty members from the history department and from the African/African American studies pitched the idea,” Martin said. “They said that this sounds great and that they will help get it out to graduate students and faculty that might be interested and so they have been really supportive helping get the word out.”

Martin’s inspiration for this group also stemmed from the University of Maryland's “Anna Julia Cooper Workshop,” which  allows scholars to present their works in progress and brings scholars from outside the university to discuss their ongoing work.

“I liked the idea of discussing works in progress but felt that creating a community for graduate students and faculty doing Black history at LSU was a little more important in the short term than bringing in outside scholars right away,”  Martin said.

Currently, the group has one faculty member, Herman O. Kelly Jr. He is a part of the Adjunct School of Education and African and African American Studies department.

Kelly joined the group not to be an adviser but to learn more about Black studies among graduate students and improve his writing skills. He also joined because it allows him to “make a difference.”

“We have some great long-range goals, and we welcome new persons,” Kelly said. “This is a new group, and we hope others will join to make a difference in the university community.”

Currently, the group is centered on graduate students and faculty members since they are most likely to be doing research projects. In the long run, they hope to include undergraduate students who might be working on an applicable project or their senior thesis.

History master’s student Akua Lewis was invited by Martin to join the group. She said she hopes to become a professor after pursuing her doctorate and grow as a historian learning from others in the group.

“I hope to learn more about African American history from the group, along with different perspectives on the aspects of Black history which interest the other members,” Lewis said. “Others who plan to get involved should know that this is a wonderful opportunity to work with others to explore Black history and to share our findings.”

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