A Place in Black Studies

AP Photo/STF, Associated Press/Wide World Photos

There’s the engagement I have with Black studies that exist within the confines of the academy. And there’s the engagement I have in Black studies that I have outside it.

Maybe it was the reasons for having classes virtually for over a year, the fact my school doesn’t have an African American Studies/Africana Studies department or my recent leave of absence. But I almost completely forgot how real the institutional…