Program in Black American Culture (1972-2003)
Smithsonian Museum of American History
Beginning in 1972, a group of African American scholars assembled to develop the African Diaspora Program for the Smithsonian Bicentennial Festivals of American Folklife researched African Diaspora cultures in the U.S., Caribbean, and Africa. Led by Gerald L. Davis and Bernice Johnson Reagon, this research team included James Early, Worth Long, and photographer Roland Freeman as well as William H. Wiggins. Propelled by the momentum of this research for the 1975 and 1976 Festivals of American Folklife, this research initiative transformed into the Program in Black American Culture, a research center founded and led by Dr. Reagon until 1989. It was first housed in the Division of the Performing Arts, and later, operated out of the National Museum of American History from 1982 to 2003.
Out of the groundbreaking research of this office, Bernice Johnson Reagon conceptualized, developed, directed, and produced innovative public programs based in the study of the cultural expressions of African American history and culture and showcasing the scholarship of African American scholars of national and international reputation. Among the innovative conferences, concerts, colloquia, seminars, and workshops produced by this research center were:
- an examination of the music of the Civil Rights movement from field recordings;
- a conference about the impact of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) which brought members back together after a devastating break up in 1966;
- programs which presented the composers, compositions, and publications of African American sacred music traditions;
- and concerts and seminars about African American women blues singers.
Among the publications from this research center are:
- Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966 (1980)
- Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions CDs, I-IV (1994)
- Wade in the Water, a 26 part radio series (1994)
- Shapiro et al. eds, Black People and their Culture: Selected Writings from the African Diaspora (1976)