We at the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies are excited to celebrate our Thirtieth Anniversary. Founded in 1981 as the Institute for African American Research, it was renamed a year later in honor of Virginia native, Carter G. Woodson. Armstead L. Robinson, the Institute's founding director, began his tenure with a two-fold mandate: to promote and enhance the research and teaching of African American Studies in the schools and departments of the University of Virginia and to establish a center for research in African American Studies at this major southern university, the first of Virginia's institutions of higher learning to establish an African American Studies program. Also Professor of History, Armstead Robinson held this position until his untimely death in 1994. Since then, each subsequent head—Acting Director William Jackson, Director Reginald Butler, Interim Director Scot French, Interim Director Cynthia Hoehler-Fatton, and now Director Deborah E. McDowell (2008-)—has worked to advance the Institute's founding mandate. A small, but vital institution, "the Woodson," as it is affectionately known, has always depended on the energy of a committed handful of core faculty, including Professors Roquinaldo Ferreira, Claudrena Harold, and Marlon Ross, as well as supportive faculty affiliates who have staffed its committees, mentored its fellows, advised its undergraduate majors, and taught the wide array of courses that comprise our interdisciplinary program.
PO Box 400162
108 Minor Hall
Charlottesville, VA 22904
