Library Guides: Ethnic Studies Resources at CUNY: Africana, African American, and Black Studies resources

Africana Research Center

Africana Research Center
Established in 1969, the Brooklyn College–based Africana Research Center supports scholarship in the field of Africana Studies, and seeks to explore and remediate historical disparities regarding the Black experience. Further, it seeks to interrogate traditional frameworks of knowledge that have governed the analysis of people of Africa and the African diaspora. The Center sponsors programs and internships to enhance student understanding of this scholarship. It also preserves academic products by faculty and includes a collection of African art, archival documents, and rare books featuring first editions by foundational scholars such as Carter G. Woodson, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Booker T. Washington.

Contact: Lynda Day, Professor

Address: Brooklyn College, 2900 Bedford Ave, 3107a James Hall, Brooklyn, NY 11210
Email: lday@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Phone: 718-951-5597

Black Studies Colloquium

Black Studies Colloquium
The Black Studies Colloquium supports faculty research at Baruch College by creating a forum where scholars can discuss, workshop, and share their work.The organization produces an event series that includes programming such as film screenings, live performances, panel discussions, and presentations of scholarship at varied stages of the research lifecycle. The BSC also collaborates with the Program on African Social Research (PASR), based at the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College, to highlight the work of African scholars on the global stage.
BSC Event Series
Program on African Social Research (PASR)

Contact: Rojo Robles, Director (2023–2024), rojo.roblesmejias@baruch.cuny.edu
Contact: Keisha Allan, Director (2023–2024), keisha.allan@baruch.cuny.edu

Caribbean Research Center

Caribbean Research Center
The Caribbean Research Center at Medgar Evers College is an academic unit that contributes research on the experiences of members of the Caribbean diaspora and Caribbean Americans in New York City as well as broader Caribbean and diasporic communities around the world. The Center studies social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of Caribbean communities.

Contact: Caribbean Research Center, crc@mec.cuny.edu

Center for Black Literature (CBL)

Center for Black Literature (CBL)
Medgar Evers College’s Center for Black Literature (CBL) publicizes and celebrates the literary output of people from Africa and of the African diaspora. CBL creates channels for students, teachers, and members of the public to read, explore, consider, appreciate, and research Black literature. CBL’s programming includes the National Black Writers Conference, a writing retreat, and outreach programs for young and elderly people.

Among CBL’s resources are:

CBL's Digital Archive
Demonstrates the diversity of Black experiences through literature and a digital archive.
CBL's Reading List
Also demonstrates the diversity of Black experiences through literature and a digital archive.
The History and Legacy of the Center for Black Literature: An Online Exhibition
The digitization of CBL’s archives culminated in a project titled "The History and Legacy of the Center for Black Literature: An Online Exhibition."

Contact: Center for Black Literature

Address: Medgar Evers College, CUNY, 1534 Bedford Ave, Center for Black Literature, 2nd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11216
Email: info@centerforblackliterature.org
Mailing address: Center for Black Literature, Medgar Evers College, CUNY, 1650 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11225
Phone: 718-804-8884

Contact: Brenda M. Greene, Ph.D., Professor of English, and Founder and Executive Director

Email: drgreene@centerforblackliterature.org; copy drgreeneassistant@gmail.com

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies (CLACLS)

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies (CLACLS)
The Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center encourages research on and engagement with Latin American and Caribbean people as well as diasporic communities in the United States, with particular attention to those in New York City. The organization’s Latino Data Project generates and makes available to the public reports on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the experience of Latinos in the United States.
Latino Data Project

Contact: Center for Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies

Address: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave, Room 5419, New York, NY 10016
Email: clacls@gc.cuny.edu

Center for Law and Social Justice

Center for Law and Social Justice
In 1986, a coalition of activists and attorneys connected to Medgar Evers College created the Center for Law and Social Justice (CLSJ) in response to increasing police brutality and killings in Black communities around New York City. CLSJ’s advocacy focuses on issues such as progressive law enforcement reform, voting rights, and redistricting. The research functions of CLSJ involve making accessible reports and presentations on structurally inequitable systems such as the census (and the redistricting it initiates).

Contact: Center for Law and Social Justice

Email: info@clsj.org
Phone: 718-804-8893

Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO)

Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO)
CENTRO at Hunter College is the most extensive university institute, library, and archive devoted to recording, preserving, and telling the story of Puerto Ricans in the United States. The Library collection includes both primary and secondary sources, and consists of over 14,000 books, 2,550 dissertations and theses, 3,700 reels of microfilm that represent over 500 periodicals, 600 audio recordings, 514 visual recordings, and 21.3 linear feet of vertical files. The Archives of the Puerto Rican Diaspora comprises over 300 collections of personal papers belonging to notable Puerto Ricans as well as documents from community and government organizations. An ongoing initiative has so far resulted in the digitization of 32,000 materials from the holdings of the Archives, including photographs, written documents, multimedia recordings, and artworks.

Contact: CENTRO Main Office

Address: 695 Park Ave, Room E1429, New York, NY 10065
Email: centro@hunter.cuny.edu
Phone: 212-772-5688

Contact: CENTRO Library & Archives

Address: Silberman School of Social Work, 2180 3rd Ave, 1st Fl, Rm 120, New York, NY 10035
Email: centro.library@hunter.cuny.edu
Phone: 212-396-7874

Access: CENTRO Library & Archives are open to the public by appointment.

Hours: Monday–Friday: 10:00 A.M.–5:00 P.M
Materials are noncirculating, with the exception of the film collection and newspapers on microfilm; to request, email centro.library@hunter.cuny.edu

CUNY Dominican Studies Institute (CUNY DSI)

CUNY Dominican Studies Institute (CUNY DSI)
The CUNY DSI Archives and Library at CCNY is the first and only repository outside of the Dominican Republic whose sole focus is the preservation, dissemination and accessibility of resources pertaining to the lives and experiences of Dominican people. Encompassing primary and secondary sources, the Dominican Library provides access to books, doctoral and master’s degree dissertations, newspaper clippings and journal articles, and multimedia resources. The primary source materials in the Dominican Archives constitute a rich record of the history of Dominican people in the United States. The CUNY DSI Archives and Library also creates and provides access to digital resources that support pedagogical and scholarly aims related to the study of Dominican people and its history.

Contact: CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Archives and Library

Sarah Aponte, Professor and Chief Librarian, aponte@ccny.cuny.edu
Jhensen Ortiz, Librarian, jortiz2@ccny.cuny.edu
Jessy Perez, Archivist, jperez2@ccny.cuny.edu
General Archives inquiries (email): dsiarchives@ccny.cuny.edu

Access: CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Archives and Library is a noncirculating reference library open to the public.

Hours: Monday–Friday, 10:00 A.M.–6:00 P.M.

CUNY Haitian Studies Institute (CUNY HSI)

CUNY Haitian Studies Institute (CUNY HSI)
The CUNY Haitian Studies Institute at Brooklyn College is an interdisciplinary organization that facilitates research about Haiti and Haitians, with emphasis on policies that affect the Haitian community and connect scholarship to the experiences of Haitians. The CUNY HSI provides a forum for scholarly and community collaboration, and its resources include the Bilingual English and Haitian Creole Glossary of Immigration Terms/Glosè Imigrasyon Angle-Kreyòl, a document created to support Haitian immigrants seeking information as well as immigration assistance providers. The HSI Archives are currently under development by inaugural archivist Obden Mondésir.
Bilingual English and Haitian Creole Glossary of Immigration Terms/Glosè Imigrasyon Angle-Kreyòl
Inaugural archivist Obden Mondésir

Contact: CUNY Haitian Studies Institute

Address: Brooklyn College, 2900 Bedford Ave,1108 Boylan Hall, Brooklyn, NY 11210
Email: hsi@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Phone: 718-951-5000, exts. 5187, 1413, or 1496

Contact: Obden Mondésir, HSI Archivist

Email: obden.mondesir@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Phone: 718-951-5000, ext. 2123

Access HSI Circulating collection via CUNY Onesearch

Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean (IRADAC)

Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean (IRADAC)
The Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean (IRADAC) expands both the depth and breadth of knowledge and scholarship around people of the African diaspora around the world. The Institute cultivates a community of academics at the CUNY Graduate Center; provides fellowships, including an opportunity at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and organizes public events.

Contact: Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean

Address: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave, Room 7114, New York, NY 10016
Email: iradac@gc.cuny.edu

Contact: Herman Bennett, Distinguished Professor and Director

Email: hbennett@gc.cuny.edu
Phone: 212-817-8435

Contact: Zee Dempster, Assistant Coordinator (Africana Studies) and Assistant Director

Email: zdempster@gc.cuny.edu

Shirley Chisholm Project on Brooklyn Women's Activism, 1945 to the Present

Shirley Chisholm Project on Brooklyn Women's Activism, 1945 to the Present
The Shirley Chisholm Project on Brooklyn Women’s Activism is a repository of archival materials that trace the work of women’s grassroots activism in Brooklyn since 1945, filtered through the lens of Shirley Chisholm’s experience as a trailblazing activist and politician. An initiative of the Women's and Gender Studies program at Brooklyn College, the project seeks to locate and amplify knowledge of the roles of women and activism during this period. The archive consists of approximately 300 photographs, correspondence documents, periodicals, and multimedia recordings. Additionally, a collection of oral histories compiles interviews with people who knew Chisholm.

Contact: Zinga A. Fraser, PhD, Director

Address: Brooklyn College, 2900 Bedford Ave, 3107b James Hall, Brooklyn, NY 11210
Email: chisholmproject@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Phone: 718-951-5000, ext. 1772

Access: The Shirley Chisholm Project is open to the public.