Albert Broussard: Building a Better World with Black History
By Amber Francis ‘22
For many in the realm of academia and research, it is easy to get lost in the endless sea of faculty members and others itching to make their mark. The same cannot be said for one of Texas A&M University’s most beloved and distinguished professors, Albert Broussard, a true trailblazer of Black history.
Pioneering an Education in Black History
Broussard wanted to be a teacher for as long as he could remember, initially hoping to be a high school teacher. But upon attending Stanford as an undergraduate, Broussard was encouraged to attend graduate school.
“I took my first Black history course in 1970 at Stanford, when Black history was just being introduced into college curriculums, as were African-American studies programs,” he explained. “It was something I increasingly became interested in. After that, I wasn’t sure I wanted to teach high school any longer.”
Trying to continue an education in Black history was initially a difficult task, as there were very few graduate schools that taught the subject. But a breakthrough came during Broussard’s senior year at Stanford when a professor recommended Duke University, citing a young Black professor there who was training students, both Black and White, in Black and African-American history. Duke also housed a sizable community of Black graduate students, many more than Broussard has ever seen in his 36 years at Texas A&M; when he received his Ph.D. in 1977, he was among the first three Black students to complete the program.
Click here to read the full article from College of Liberal Arts.