Robert C. Smith (political scientist)

Last updated
Robert C. Smith
Born(1947-02-12)February 12, 1947 [1]
DiedApril 13, 2023(2023-04-13) (aged 76) [2]
Education University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Los Angeles
Howard University
Known forWork on racial politics in the United States
Spouse
Scotlie Gibson Smith
(m. 1972)
[1]
Children2 [1]
AwardsDistinguished Ph.D. Alumni Award from Howard University (1998)
Scientific career
Fields Political science
Institutions San Francisco State University
Thesis Black elites and Black groups in the federal policy process: a study in interest articulation  (1976)

Robert Charles Smith (February 12, 1947 - April 13, 2023) [1] [2] was a political science professor at San Francisco State University (SFSU). He is known for his scholarship on race and politics in the United States, about which he has written several books. [3] [4] The "Black Politics" class he began teaching at SFSU in 1990 proved controversial; students protested the class because it was offered in the political science department rather than the African American studies department, which was interpreted by some students as encroaching on the latter department's area of focus. [5]

Related Research Articles

Queer studies, sexual diversity studies, or LGBT studies is the study of topics relating to sexual orientation and gender identity usually focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender dysphoric, asexual, queer, questioning, and intersex people and cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco State University</span> Public university in San Francisco, California

San Francisco State University is a public research university in San Francisco. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is part of the California State University system.

William Julius Wilson is an American sociologist, a professor at Harvard University, and an author of works on urban sociology, race, and class issues. Laureate of the National Medal of Science, he served as the 80th President of the American Sociological Association, was a member of numerous national boards and commissions. He identified the importance of neighborhood effects and demonstrated how limited employment opportunities and weakened institutional resources exacerbated poverty within American inner-city neighborhoods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Glover</span> American actor (born 1946)

Danny Lebern Glover is an American actor, producer and political activist. Over his career he has received numerous accolades including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the NAACP's President's Award, as well as nominations for five Emmy Awards and four Grammy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black studies</span> Academic field focusing on peoples of the African diaspora and Africa

Black studies or Africana studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field that primarily focuses on the study of the history, culture, and politics of the peoples of the African diaspora and Africa. The field includes scholars of African-American, Afro-Canadian, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latino, Afro-European, Afro-Asian, African Australian, and African literature, history, politics, and religion as well as those from disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, psychology, education, and many other disciplines within the humanities and social sciences. The field also uses various types of research methods.

Ethnic studies, in the United States, is the interdisciplinary study of difference—chiefly race, ethnicity, and nation, but also sexuality, gender, and other such markings—and power, as expressed by the state, by civil society, and by individuals.

Siobhan Brooks is an African-American lesbian feminist sociologist known for her work with African-American women sex workers. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in women's studies from San Francisco State University, and a Doctor of Philosophy in sociology from New School University in New York City. She is currently Professor of African-American studies at California State University, Fullerton.

Andrei Pavlovich Tsygankov is a Russian-born academic and author in the field of international relations at San Francisco State University.

Paul K. Longmore was a professor of history, an author, and a notable disability activist who taught at San Francisco State University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Millsapps</span> American novelist and filmmaker

Jan Millsapps is an American digital filmmaker, fiction writer, and Professor Emerita in the Cinema Department at San Francisco State University. She has produced films, videos and interactive cinema on subjects ranging from domestic violence to global terrorism, and has published in traditional print and online venues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African Americans in California</span> Ethnic group, race and minority in California

African American Californians, or Black Californians are residents of the state of California who are of African ancestry. According to 2019 United States Census Bureau estimates, those identified solely as African American or black constituted 5.8% or 2,282,144 residents in California. Including an additional 1.2% who identified as having partial African ancestry, the figure was 7.0%. As of 2021, California has the largest multiracial African American population by number in the United States. African Americans are the fourth largest ethnic group in California after Hispanics, white people, and Asians. Asians outnumbered African Americans in the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMCHA Initiative</span> Pro-Israeli foreign lobbying organization

The AMCHA Initiative is a pro-Israel American campus group that seeks to undermine BDS activities on campuses. AMCHA was founded in 2012 by University of California Santa Cruz lecturer Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and University of California Los Angeles Professor Emeritus Leila Beckwith. The term Amcha is Hebrew for "your people" or "your nation."

The Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) rose in 1968 as a coalition of ethnic student groups on college campuses in California in response to the Eurocentric education and lack of diversity at San Francisco State College and University of California, Berkeley. The TWLF was instrumental in creating and establishing Ethnic Studies and other identity studies as majors in their respective schools and universities across the United States.

In 1968, the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF), a coalition of the Black Students Union, the Latin American Students Organization, the Filipino American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE) the Filipino-American Students Organization, the Asian American Political Alliance, and El Renacimiento, a Mexican-American student organization, formed at San Francisco State University (SFSU) to call for campus reform. Another Third World Liberation Front was formed at University of California, Berkeley in January 1969. These coalitions initiated and sustained the Third World Liberation Front strikes of 1968, one of the longest student strikes in US history.

Russell Mark Jeung is an Asian American sociologist at San Francisco State University. He is known for his social activism on racism towards Asian Americans and is a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate.

Lynn Mahoney is an American university president, author, and social historian. Mahoney is the president of San Francisco State University (SFSU) since July 2019, and is the first woman to hold this role. Her scholarly work has focused on United States history, women's history, feminism, race studies, and ethnicity. She is the author of Elizabeth Stoddard and the Boundaries of Bourgeois Culture ; a book about novelist and poet Elizabeth Stoddard.

The history of San Francisco State University began in 1857, with a teacher-training program at a high school, which led to the creation of San Francisco State Normal School. It became San Francisco State Teachers College, San Francisco State College, and California State University, San Francisco before becoming San Francisco State University as it's known today.

Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi is a Palestinian-born American scholar, activist, educator, editor, and an academic director. She is an Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, Race and Resistance Studies, and the founding Director of Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies (AMED) at San Francisco State University (SFSU). She is a controversial political figure, which is in part due to larger political issues around her field of study.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laureen Chew</span> American academic and actress

Laureen Chew is an American academic and actress. She is Professor Emerita of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University. She acted in two Wayne Wang films in the 1980s, both of which were shot in San Francisco.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Who's who Among African Americans. Gale Research. 2008. p. 1107. ISBN   9781414400204.
  2. 1 2 "Remembering Renowned Political Science Professor and Black Politics Scholar, Dr. Robert C. Smith". Political Science Now. American Political Science Association. 9 May 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  3. "Minorities May Spurn The GOP, But The Party Welcomes Them". NPR. 2012-12-24. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  4. "Race Alone Doesn't Explain Hatred Of Obama, But It's Part Of The Mix". NPR. 2014-05-13. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  5. Depalma, Anthony (1991-01-02). "Hard-Won Acceptance Spawns New Conflicts Around Ethnic Studies". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-06-19.