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The Department of African American & African Studies celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2009! To mark this historic occasion we collaborated with a dynamic group of alumni and community members to organize “We Still Have a Charge to Keep,” a series of events designed to

• commemorate the January 1969 Morrill Hall takeover that led to the formation of the department in the fall of 1969
• examine the current status of African American student recruitment, admission, retention, and graduation
• create strategies for advancing the University's goal of becoming a top three public research institution–such a goal cannot be achieved without a strong commitment to the work done in publicly-engaged ethnic studies units

The Morrill Hall and Rachel Tilsen Social Justice Fund was established by alumni attending "We Still Have a Charge to Keep" events. This fund will be used to issue annual awards to individuals and/or organizations conducting important social justice work. Please consider making a one-time gift or continuing donation to support this fund, the General Fund, or the John S. Wright Scholarship Fund, which enables students to travel and study abroad. We welcome any contribution, from $1 to $10,000,000. Your gift to the Morrill Hall and Rachel Tilsen Social Justice Fund, the John S. Wright Scholarship Fund, or the General Fund immediately helps us support cultural programming and events, build community outreach, establish student scholarships, and develop faculty research.