azpeabody Profile

Dr. Amilcar Shabazz is an associate professor of History and Director of the American Studies Program at Oklahoma State University. At OSU he is also the founding director of the Center for Africana Studies & Development. Prior to going to Oklahoma he served at the first director of The University of Alabama's African American Studies Program. He earned his bachelor's degree in economics from The University of Texas at Austin, a masters’ degree in history from Lamar University, and a doctoral degree in history from the University of Houston. Essence Magazine ranked his newest book, Advancing Democracy: African Americans and the Struggle for Access and Equity in Higher Education in Texas (University of North Carolina Press, 2004), a top ten bestseller in the nonfiction paperback category. Shabazz has also published The Forty Acres Documents, a sourcebook on reparations, along with several journal articles, book chapters and reviews. His work has taken him across the U.S. and abroad, including Brazil, Ghana, Japan, Cuba, Mali, France, Nicaragua, and Jamaica. In recognition of his work as a teacher, the University of Alabama National Alumni Association awarded him its Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award in 2001, one of its most prestigious awards. Educational development and historic preservation are major parts of his professional and volunteer service work. He has served as chair of the Board of Directors for the Coalition of Alabamians Reforming Education that fights miseducation and tracking, and was appointed by Gov. Bob Riley to the Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Commission. Shabazz was the District 7 Representative on the Black Heritage Council of the Alabama Historical Commission and served on Alabama's state review panel for the National Register of Historic Places. He counts as one of his proudest accomplishments his work to help found the Safe House Historic Museum in Greensboro, Alabama.