The Institute for African American Studies is proud to announce the winners of the 2021 Lee Roy B. Giles Encouragement Award, established in 2010 by his wife, Dr. Freda Scott Giles, Professor Emeritus in the Institute.  The Award honors the legacy of Mr. Giles with a cash award given to a student who has exhibited excellence in the area of African American Studies, whether in research, practical application, or academic experience.

The Institute for African American Studies proudly recognizes Graduate Certificate Student, Chanara Andrews-Bickers, as this year’s recipient of the R. Baxter Miller Award. As she pursues her doctoral program in the Department of English, Andrews-Bickers may utilize this funding for travel, conferences, supplies, or other costs in support of her research. Named in honor of Dr. Ron Baxter Miller, this award recognizes one undergraduate student and one graduate student per year pursuing excellent work in the study of African American and Multicultural Literature.

The Institute for African American Studies welcomes a new cohort of students pursuing its Graduate Certificate Program this Fall 2021. Application information available here. Students pursuing the graduate certificate should email Ms. Kendra Freeman – kkmfree@uga.edu – to schedule their academic advising appointment and be cleared to register for AFAM courses.

The University of Georgia will host the 2021 virtual symposium on Recognition, Reconciliation, and Redress.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Use the linked pages to find the program, resources, and contact information.

Val Jeanty, who performed and presented at Ciné in a February 2020 DJ Summit, will collaborate with author and artist (and 2021 Windham Campbell Prize recipient) Renee Gladman for an April

You're invited to join us for the first Biographers Circle event of 2021: an online discussion between Peniel E. Joseph and Ed Pavlic about Dr. Joseph’s recently published book, The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. 



Please register for the event by clicking on this link. After you register, you will receive another link to watch the event via Zoom. 

Join us for a talk by Dr. Mitzi J Smith, J Davidson Phillips Professor of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. Dr. Smith is interested in close critical readings of sacred texts that attend to justice issues, the perspective and presence of the marginalized and silenced ‘other,’ and the intersection of race, gender, class, sexuality, and religion. She is an expert in womanist and African American biblical interpretation.

In Fall 2020, with generous support from the Willson Center for Humanities and the Arts, the Institute for African American Studies offered a Special Topics course for upper level undergraduates and graduate certificate students focused on “Black Lives Matter in the Time of COVID.” Taught by IAAS Director, Dr. Carolyn Jones Medine, this course explored ongoing Black Lives Matter movements and their history. The reading list included: Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (Ibram X.

On Tuesday, March 2, 2021, IAAS Director Dr. Carolyn Jones Medine moderated a conversation among four of the Morton Theatre Corporation Defiance Project Award winners: visual artists Noraa James and Broderick Flanigan; musical artist Kxng Blanco; and filmmaker Booker T. Mattison, assistant professor of entertainment and media studies in the UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. 

The Lee Roy B. Giles Encouragement Award celebrates a University of Georgia student who exhibits some form of excellence in the area of African American Studies, whether through research, practical application, or academic experience. Preference shown to those who major, minor, or earn a graduate certificate in African American Studies, but all applications welcome. See our website for history of the award, application details, and list of past winners.