By Richard LeComte

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 5, 2020) — Sydney Sayre appreciates the history she’s making in May as she graduates as the University of Kentucky's first African American and Africana Studies (AAAS) major in the College of Arts & Sciences.

“The first black studies course took place at UK in 1969, and in 2020 I’ll be the first person to graduate as a major in African American and Africana studies,” said Sayre, who grew up on a horse farm and considers Lexington her hometown. “I think history is all about new beginnings and change and that is what this program is doing at UK — making history.”

African American and Africana studies was available as a minor until 2019, when it became a major. Sayre, who is double majoring in history, accumulated enough credits to be the first student to earn the

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

The University of Kentucky Center for Graduate and Professional Diversity Initiatives and the Graduate School's Office of Diversity and Inclusion have named Anastasia Curwood the 2020 Dr. Doris Wilkinson Faculty Inclusive Excellence Award winner. This award honors faculty who enhance the university through their inclusive leadership and vision, particularly in the realm of graduate and professional education.

"I’m incredibly humbled to receive the award, especially because I was nominated by my student," said Curwood, who is an associate professor in the 

The Center for Graduate and Professional Diversity Initiatives and the Graduate School's Office of Diversity are proud to announce Dr. Anastasia Curwood as the 2020 Doris Wilkinson Faculty Inclusive Excellence Award winner.  Read the full story here

By Nate Harling and Lindsey Piercy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 4, 2020) — Bertin Louis Jr. has received a prestigious position that is giving him national exposure. The director of undergraduate studies for African American and Africana Studies (AAAS) and associate professor of anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky has been named editor of “Conditionally Accepted.”

The Inside

By Richard LeComte

A new Africana Saturday School begins this weekend at the historic downtown Lyric Theatre & Cultural Arts Center at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 22.

The Saturday School will be a series of double lectures given once a month through May. The theme for spring 2020 is “New Visions for Black Men: From Maleness to Manhood.” Events start at 9 a.m. and are free to the public.

Frank X Walker, organizer of the event and poet and University of Kentucky English professor in the College of Arts & Sciences, will kick off the series with a talk and reading titled “Honor Thy Mother & Father: Making the Case for a New Vision.” UK faculty participating in the series include Derrick White and Gerald Smith, both UK history professors as well as members of the

This year, the College of Arts & Sciences celebrated the 20th anniversary of its Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Over the last 20 years, we have recognized 79 alumni and faculty whose

contributions to the College, University, Commonwealth and beyond are far-reaching. Over the next few weeks, I will be highlighting each of this year’s inductees. Today, I am honored to recognize Gerald Smith.

Gerald was born in Lexington, Ky., and graduated from Henry Clay High School. He attended the University of Kentucky as an undergraduate and graduate student, and received his B.A. (1981), M.A. (1983), and Ph.D. (1988) degrees in history. During his time as a student at UK, he served as Polemarch (President) of the undergraduate chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and as secretary of the Black Student Union. He was also a disc jockey for the

By Lindsey Piercy

Amy Murrell Taylor, an accomplished professor, historian and author at the University Kentucky, can add winner of one of the most coveted awards for the study of global slavery to her remarkable list of accomplishments and accolades.

Taylor — who was recently appointed the T. Marshall Hahn, Jr. Professor in the UK College of Arts and Sciences — has been awarded the prestigious Frederick Douglass Book Prize for “Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps” (UNC Press, 2018). The award is presented annually by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the Gilder Lehrman Center for Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition 

By Meredith Weber

A portrait unveiling of civil rights pioneer Lyman T. Johnson highlighted the University of Kentucky's 29th annual Lyman T. Johnson Torch of Excellence Awards Banquet Oct. 11 at the Gatton Student Center.

The UK Alumni Association Lyman T. Johnson African American Alumni Group honored students and alumni during the awards ceremony as part of the 2019 Lyman T. Johnson Homecoming Celebration. 

UK’s academic colleges and units selected one African American alum whose faith, hard work and determination has positively affected the lives of people on the UK campus, the city, state or nation. These individuals received the Lyman T. Johnson Torch of Excellence Award. These units also chose an African American student within their respective colleges/departments whose academic achievement and ability to impact the lives of others

By Ryan Girves

The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, in partnership with the Office for Institutional Diversity, welcomes noted African American scholar, UK alumnus and former president of Prairie View A&M University, George Wright. In recognition of the 70th anniversary of integration at the university, Wright is a visiting professor at UK for the 2019-2020 academic year.

A Lexington native, Wright received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UK in history and his doctoral degree in history from Duke University. In 2004, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from UK and was later inducted into the Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2005. 

Wright has touched the lives of thousands and has had a tremendous impact in the

By Lindsey Piercy

Expanding on the University of Kentucky's 70 Years of Integration series, the College of Arts and Sciences is commemorating 50 years of Black Studies at UK.

In 1968, African American and Africana Studies (AAAS) began with an interdisciplinary course, Afro-American Life and Culture. Later that year, the Black Student Union launched a campaign for more courses. As a result of their successful efforts, the African American Studies and Research Program was born. The program, founded by Emeritus Professor Doris Wilkinson, would eventually become African American and Africana Studies.

Students can now major

By Lindsey Piercy

From left to right: Regina Hamilton, Derrick White, Bertin Louis, Nikki Brown, Frances Henderson, Kamahra Ewing

In an effort to build institutional excellence, an inclusive curriculum and faculty diversity, the University of Kentucky is welcoming six new educators to the College of Arts and Sciences.

Cluster hiring — hiring multiple scholars into one or more departments based on shared research interest — is a way to advance the university's commitment to diversity and inclusion, while also fostering a learning environment dedicated to collaboration and engagement.

"Not only does hiring multiple faculty members signal our commitment to African American and Africana Studies within the college, but it also creates a sense of possibility

By Jenny Wells-Hosley

One man. One courageous step. Seventy years of a journey that is still unfolding and evolving.

In 1949, Lyman T. Johnson became the first African American to enroll at the University of Kentucky, resulting in the first racially integrated class. It was, by all accounts, a wrenching path.

But 30 years later, Johnson was awarded an honorary doctorate from UK.

“It’s remarkable,” Johnson wrote, “that so much has changed in the space of thirty years — from the time I forced my way into the university on a court order to the day the university gave me an honorary degree.”

Today, awards, ceremonies, programs and a residence hall proudly bear Johnson's name on the UK campus. And now, this seven-decade journey — from court-ordered integration to a university that strives to be a community of belonging for everyone —

By Lindsey Piercy

Today we reflect on a grim chapter in our nation's history — the beginning of a 400-year story filled with tragedy, inequality, resilience and survival.

On Aug. 20, 1619, a ship carrying 20 enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, changing the course of American history. These men and women were among more than 12 million other captives to be sold to colonists in what would become the United States.

The transatlantic slave trade — which reduced Africans to commodities — would endure for centuries and ultimately shape our country and the state of Kentucky.

To this day, one of the darkest periods of our nation's past continues to cast a shadow. 

How does the legacy of slavery still resonate with Kentuckians, and how do we — as a state — heal from history? We asked 

It is well past time to celebrate and give recognition to the place African American women have created within the U.S. political history. As we celebrate the victory of Lori Lightfoot becoming the first African American woman mayor of Chicago, we also remember that it was half a century ago when Shirley Chisholm became the first African American woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. Let us not overlook the local African American women who are adding to the foundation of the political landscape. On March 7, 2019, five of these outstanding women were recognized for their contributions at the University of Kentucky, Black Women in Politics Celebration Luncheon.

ANGELA C. EVANS

Angela C. Evans is a native of Lexington, KY.  In 2015, she was elected to the Lexington-Fayette Urban City Council. She has served as a public defender in Lexington, KY, and

By Lindsey Piercy

The University of Kentucky African American and Africana Studies Program hopes to send a message of empowerment throughout the 24th annual Black Women's Conference.

This year's conference, themed "The New Jane Crow; Black Women, Mass Incarceration, and Police Violence," will be held Friday, March 30, and Saturday, March 31.

"Black women are a fast-growing portion of the prison population and experience a myriad of challenges related to high incarceration rates in the U.S. Therefore, we thought it was essential that we draw attention to the very real impact mass incarceration and police violence have on black women," said Anastasia Curwood, director of African American and Africana Studies Program (

By Lori Minter

The University of Kentucky has released its Dean's List for the spring 2017 semester.  A total of 6,412 students were recognized for their outstanding academic performance. 

To make a Dean’s List in one of the UK colleges, a student must earn a grade point average of 3.6 or higher and must have earned 12 credits or more in that semester, excluding credits earned in pass-fail classes.  Some UK colleges require a 3.5 GPA to make the Dean’s List.

The full Dean's List can be accessed by visiting: www.uky.edu/PR/News/DeansList/.

UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK

By Blair Hoover

Note: This article contains a reference to UK's Bias Incident Response Team, which no longer exists. To report discrimination, harassment or sexual misconduct, visit https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?UnivofKentucky&layout_id=30.

The 1934 mural painted by Ann Rice O'Hanlon on display in Memorial Hall has been a topic of campus debate for many years. This Friday, March 24, at 1:30 p.m. in Memorial Hall, University of Kentucky's African American and Africana Studies Program will host a panel discussion after the mural's unveiling.

Panelist for the discussion include:

By Lori Minter

A record number of students made the University of Kentucky Dean's List for the fall 2016 semester. The 7,408 students were recognized for their outstanding academic performance.  That's an increase of more than 200 over the previous record reached in fall 2015 when the number of students on the UK Dean's List surpassed 7,000 for the first time.  Last semester's Dean's List includes over 700 more students than the spring 2016 semester's list.

To make a Dean’s List in one of the UK colleges, a student must earn a grade point average of 3.6 or higher and must have earned 12 credits or more in that semester, excluding credits earned in pass-fail classes.  Some UK colleges require a 3.5 GPA to make the Dean’s List.

The full Dean's List can be accessed by visiting www.uky.edu/PR

Nominations are now open for the 2017 Doris Wilkinson Faculty Leadership Award through the Society for the Stuidy of Social Problems.  This award was established in 2016 and honors University of Kentucky Emeritus Professor of Sociolgy and African American Studies, Dr. Doris Wilkinson.  For more information about the award, nomination procedures, and past winners please visit the Doris Wilkinson Faculty Leadership Award page.  

Explore the African American Heritage Trail in downtown Lexington.  Visit Tom Eblen's blog on the trail and Visit Lex site for more information.