What Can You Do with an African-American Studies Degree?

Radek, what jobs can you get with an African-American Studies degree? I’m wondering, what can I do with an African-American Studies degree?

African-American Studies is a liberal arts degree and as such, it doesn’t lead to a specific set of jobs or career opportunities. Neither does it limit you to a specific skill set or career direction. Instead, a degree in African-American Studies is largely what you make it. What you focus on during your studies will open doors for employment later on. A degree like this encourages you to follow your passions and interests.

Majoring in African-American studies will teach you to think, to analyze, and to communicate your ideas, skills that are invaluable in hundreds of career opportunities.

With that said, there is a need for an understanding of African-American history and culture in many areas, such as government, education, marketing, and public relations. For example, the current United States Ambassador to South Africa majored in African American Studies at Stanford University.

And African-American Studies creates a great foundation for graduate study. Many people who earn degrees in this area go on to study law, business, or medicine.

I chose to major in African-American Studies because I wasn’t really sure what I wanted for a career and I was passionate about my own heritage. I really love working with people, so after I graduated, I pursued certification and am now in my second year as a high school social studies teacher.

~ Rhonda A.

Careers you can get with a degree in African-American Studies include:

  • Business Manager
  • Community Developer
  • Foreign Service Specialist
  • Historian
  • Journalist/Writer
  • Media Relations Consultant
  • Multicultural Consultant
  • Museum Curator/Director
  • News Analyst
  • Politician
  • Public Relations Specialist
  • Social Worker
  • Teacher/Professor
  • Youth Pastor
by Radek Gadek
3 comments… add one
K. A

I have a African Studies degree and it is useless. Our people should focus on the sciences and technical fields. When Jews came to America they did not major in Hebrew, or when Italians came to this country they did not major in Italian Studies, nor did Germans major in German studies. These people either created businesses or majored in lucrative fields. African Americans by far are the only African group that will major in this BS, while Nigerians, South Africans, Burkinabe, Ethiopians, Ghanaians come here and major in Nursing, Engineering, etc. African Americans need to wake up and realize that we are behind every groups of people. Were are the worst group of Africans, no wonder why Nigerians, etc look down upon us.

Arnesha Parr

Whoah that is harsh. I love to learn about where I came from and where I am going. African studies opens doors and you are right they are not studying it because they have learned it. You are comparing a rabbit to a turtle it just is not in the same category. With all do respect it is not BS as you said but a way for blacks and others to look at history in someone else’s eyes, but I guess it is all just perception.

JC

KA– You are a fool. I know many Jews who have degrees in Judaic Studies and Americans and Europeans who have degrees in American and European History. If you aren’t intelligent enough to apply your “useless” degree to the various career opportunities that are available to you, then the problem is with YOU. I’m sure if you had a degree in science or business, you would still be unsuccessful, because you lack the creativity and common sense of a successful person. I’m glad Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and W.E.B. Dubois didn’t have your ridiculous thought process.

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My name is Radek M. Gadek and I am a graduate of the renowned Boston University. I studied at both traditional and online universities, thus allowing me to share my knowledge about education on both platforms.

As you continue on your quest of finding the right college and a degree to go with it, online or on-campus, I hope that Online College Report will be your guide.