2007 Major: African & African American Studies
"I think professionally it gave me a lot of perspective with regard to learning about healthcare disparities in my MPH program (attended after undergrad at Duke) and especially distrust of the healthcare system by some. It also better helps me understand where some of my patients are coming from in terms of barriers to to healthcare. Personally, I think it helped me begin to pay more attention to national and local politics, to see how the past informs the present. It also helped me develop my sense of self through knowing my history and seeing how Africans/African Americans/The Diaspora/etc. shaped, and continue to shape, the world around me."
"Some of my best experiences in the classroom at Duke were from my AAAS courses. My one regret was that I was very introverted at the time and didn’t always ask all of the questions that I had. I would tell students to take every opportunity they can to learn - Duke has a ton of written history in its libraries, but also has a lot of good oral history and insight from its professors who have lived it or spent significant time interviewing and researching generations before them."
Department of African & African American Studies