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African American Studies in college

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Carmen Fields reports on differing opinions of the African American studies program at Harvard University. Interviews with Harvard professors Harvey Mansfield and Orlando Patterson. Mansfield says that conservative scholars are excluded from the African American studies program at Harvard. He adds that the program is too political and not concerned enough with the study of the African American experience. Mansfield calls African American studies an "advocacy major" which promotes a certain point of view. Patterson notes that many academic departments are too political. He adds that history and English departments also often teach history from only one perspective. Patterson says that African American studies offers an inter-disciplinary approach to the study of one area of life. Patterson discusses his concerns over the lack of African American scholars entering academia. Fields's report is accompanied by footage of the Harvard campus and footage of students in a class taught by Derrick Bell at the Harvard Law School. 1:00:05: Carmen Fields reports that Harvey Mansfield (professor, Harvard University) has been a professor of government at Harvard University since 1965; that Orlando Patterson (professor, Harvard University) has been a professor of sociology at Harvard since 1970. Fields says that both men believe that students should learn about the African American experience; that Mansfield is critical of how it has been taught. V: Shots of Mansfield; of Patterson; of Harvard students in a lecture hall. Footage of Mansfield being interviewed by Fields. Mansfield says that teaching on the African American experience has been politicized; that...
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