Department alumni represented at The Association for the Study of African American Life and History conference

More than 30 alumni, family and friends attended an alumni reception at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. The gathering at the conference was held Sept. 26 in Atlanta and hosted by Jafari Allen, director of IRAAS (The Institute for Research in African American Studies), Professor Mabel O. Wilson, Department chair of Columbia’s African American and African Diaspora Department, and IRAAS alumnus and Brooklyn College Professor Zinga Fraser.

Joined by family and friends, the attendees — alumni from IRAAS/AAADS, Columbia College and Columbia University — celebrated the more than 100 year history of Black Studies Columbia that is part of the constellation of institutions allied with the mission of the Association. The Association founded Black History Month and has as its mission, "to promote, research, preserve, interpret and disseminate information about Black life, history and culture to the global community."