Founded in 1993, the African American Women’s Institute (AAWI) is a focal point for cross-cultural studies of women in color. The Institute seeks to build collaborative links with other local university women’s programs and community organizations and also seek to create scholarly exchange programs between the university and local institutions like the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, The Bethune Museum and Archives, and the Library of Congress, Research emphases include chronicling African American women’s history, research, and scholarship with particular emphasis on the upper south of the United States, using related fields like urban geography and history to study area-wide patterns of employment and migration. While examining the complex interface of race, sex, and class in the region, AAWI will also emphasize the compelling ways women have reshaped the culture and managed economic realities of the region. AAWI is also working to create a nexus between African-American women and other women of the DiaspOSP-RA and is developing a mentoring/support program and certificate program for women on the Howard Campus and in the community.

Abstracts of papers from the Black Women in the Academy II: Service and leadership conference.