CAAS’s original home was 715 Haven Street. In the summer of 1972, the Center moved to the second floor of the bank building at 1100 South University. In 1978, following a fire, CAAS moved again, this time, to Lorch Hall at 909 Monroe Stret. In 1985, the Center moved to larger quarters in West Hall at 200 West Engineering. The West Hall facilities include a professionally staffed library and archives and an art gallery to support the curriculum by collecting and organizing archival materials related to black faculty, staff and student organizations, student activism, and national and international events relevant for social justice. Finally, in 2002, CAAS moved to 4700 Haven Hall at 505 S. State University as part of a plan to co-locate it near the Ethnic Studies programs housed within the Program in American Culture. From its origin, the Center sponsored an undergraduate major in Afroamerican and African Studies. An undergraduate minor was added in 2000 and two graduate certificate programs, one in African-American Studies and one in African Studies, began in 2005. Throughout its history, CAAS has hosted a number of notable events and programs, including an ongoing colloquium series, the Dubois-Mandela-Rodney Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (since 1988), and two conferences in memory of the noted poet and essayist Robert Hayden in 1980 and 1990. The center has also sponsored study abroad programs in Barbados, Jamaica, Ghana and South Africa, thereby, providing valuable and unique opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students. Beginning in 2000, CAAS has served as the home of the South African Initiatives Office (SAIO). SAIO and the Rackham-funded African Initiatives program have provided crucial support for research and travel for over 190 U of M Africanist graduate students in a wide range of departments and schools; thus, CAAS has contributed substantially to the training and development of the next generation of leading scholars in the field. The Center also sponsors the Walter Rodney Essay Prize and the Harold Cruse Undergraduate Honors Thesis Prize to promote excellence in undergraduate and graduate scholarship on the African diaspora.
