"When you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at a tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" - then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair."
--Martin Luther King, Jr--
On behalf of the faculty, staff, and administration of the Clemson University Pan-African Studies program, I would like to welcome you to our Program. The Pan-African Studies Program is an innovative interdisciplinary program, which combines the best of the academic world with the best of the social and community world. It combines the many missions of the urban university to be both socially and academically engaged with the society at large.
We are very excited about the many new opportunities to research important issues and problems facing South Carolinians. We want to document the history of all of the African American churches, businesses, and schools in and around the state. We want to become a clearinghouse of information for those interested in learning more about the black experience in the South. We want to integrate the university with the community in new and exciting ways.
By digitizing information gained through research, and making it available on the fastest growing research medium in the world, the internet, we want to connect Clemson University to the rest of the world. The Pan-African Studies Program is especially important to me because it allows me to combine my two research passions, African Americans and Africans. With the help of my administrative assistant and the support of the university, we will be able to conduct groundbreaking study.
If you visit Clemson University, I invite you to stop by and check us out. You can find us in Hardin Hall. We would love to meet you and show you some of the many things we are involved in. We hope to see you soon.
Dr. Abel A. Bartley
