Massasoit Community College Launches New Black Studies Major

This fall semester, Massasoit Community College achieved a new first. It became the first two-year school in the state of Massachusetts to allow students to attain degrees in Black Studies.

With courses ranging from “Sociology of Race and Ethnicity” and “Contemporary Issues in the Black Community” to “The Black Arts Movement” and “The Civil Rights and Black Power Movement,” students at Massasoit can now pursue the interdisciplinary degree at the two-year school, both online and in-person.

Massasoit Community College is officially offering a Black Studies curriculum.So far, the program has seen a slow uptake, but leaders are optimistic about its future, hopeful and dedicated to building and growing the program at a time when other institutions are cutting back on ethnic and Black studies programs amid pushback against diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Ten years in the making

The story of Black Studies at the Massachusetts public community college goes back a decade. That’s when student responses to a survey about the need for a culturally diverse curriculum prompted the creation of two courses related to the Black experience in film and music, says Dr. Carine Sauvignon, executive dean for Massasoit’s Canton campus.

In 2020, as interest grew and Black student enrollment increased, Sauvignon crafted a Black Studies curriculum and submitted it to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. The program got approval last spring.

The City of Brockton, where Massasoit is headquartered, is at least 41% Black or African American, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Located south of Boston, Massasoit has a student population composed of almost 60% minority students with 36% identifying as Black, Sauvignon says. The city and the community college have a burgeoning Cape Verdean population.