[News] Black Studies Pioneer, John H. Bracey Jr., Joins the Ancestors

[Anti-Imperialist News]

diverseeducation.com
<https://www.diverseeducation.com/faculty-staff/article/15306434/black-studies-pioneer-john-h-bracey-jr-joins-the-ancestors>
Black Studies Pioneer, John H. Bracey Jr., Joins the Ancestors
Walter Hudson - February 5, 2023
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John H. Bracey Jr.—an architect of Black studies—who helped to create one
of the nation’s first doctoral programs in African American studies at the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst, died over the weekend. Bracey was
81.

A faculty member in the W.E.B Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies
at UMASS since 1972, Bracey served in various roles, including chairing the
department and directing the graduate certificate in African Diaspora
Studies.[image: Prof. John H. Bracey Jr.]Prof. John H. Bracey Jr.

An expert on Black social history, racial ideologies and movements and the
history of African American women Bracey wrote and edited a number of books
including *Black Nationalism in America, African American Women and the
Vote: 1837-1965; African American Mosaic: A Documentary History from the
Slave Trade to the Twenty-First Century* that he co-authored with Dr.
Manisha Sinha; and *SOS—Calling All Black People: a Black Arts Movement
Reader* that he edited with his colleague, Dr. James Smethurst and
well-known poet Sonia Sanchez.

“Professor Bracey was a walking encyclopedia and was one of the most
brilliant and prolific thinkers that I’ve ever met and had the opportunity
to work with,” said Dr. Jamal Watson, the former executive editor of
*Diverse* and a faculty member at Trinity Washington University. Bracey
directed his doctoral dissertation and was his master professor at UMASS.

“Professor Bracey was extremely generous with his time and his mentorship,
but he was also laser-focused on building the next generation of leaders
who would protect and build on the field of African American studies,” said
Watson “He greatly transformed the trajectory of Black studies and was
instrumental in mentoring hundreds of scholars who he single-handedly
helped transition into the academy. But more importantly, he had a deep and
abiding love for Black people and that was evident in everything that he
did.”

Born in Chicago, Bracey grew up in Washington, D.C. and attended Howard
University, Roosevelt University in Chicago and completed graduate work at
Roosevelt and at Northwestern University. In the 1960s, Bracey was active
in the Civil Rights, Black Liberation, and Peace movements as a member of
the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Chicago Friends of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS), and the Revolutionary Action Movement. [image: John H Bracey Jr
Speaking Indoors Ca 1972]

Bracey was lauded for his early work on editing the papers of the NAACP and
was successful in helping UMASS secure the papers of Dr. W.E.B Du Bois, the
towering Black intellectual who grew up in nearby Great Barrington,
Massachusetts.

In 2021, UMASS Chancellor Dr. Kumble Subbaswamy announced the establishment
of an endowed graduate fellowship in honor of Bracey. The fellowship was
announced in conjunction with the school's Black Presence Initiative, an
effort to explore and document the experiences of Black students at UMass
Amherst.

At the time of the announcement, Subbaswamy praised Bracey for leading the
efforts “to record and archive the many impressive and enduring
contributions the Black members of our community have made to UMass. It is
only fitting that the campus create a permanent acknowledgement of the
transformative role he has played on our campus.”

A lifetime member of the Association for the Study of African American Life
and History and of the Organization of American Historians, Bracey received
numerous awards and accolades and was the recipient of an honorary degree
from the College of Wooster in 2013.  In 2018, Bracey was among a number of
scholars that
<https://www.diverseeducation.com/latest-news/article/15102004/black-scholars-matter-series-celebrates-academicians-and-their-work-part-1>*Diverse
<https://www.diverseeducation.com/latest-news/article/15102004/black-scholars-matter-series-celebrates-academicians-and-their-work-part-1>*
 recognized.
<https://www.diverseeducation.com/latest-news/article/15102004/black-scholars-matter-series-celebrates-academicians-and-their-work-part-1>

*Walter Hudson can be reached at whudson at diverseeducation.com
<whudson at diverseeducation.com> *
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