About AADHum

The African American History, Culture, and Digital Humanities (AADHum) Initiative brings African American studies and digital humanities together in order to support scholars and expand upon both fields, making the digital humanities more inclusive of African American history and culture and enriching African American studies research with digital methods, archives, and tools.

Generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the initiative draws on the remarkable faculty, staff, and centers—in the College of Arts and Humanities and across the University of Maryland—with internationally recognized expertise in the digital humanities and in African American literature, history, and culture. The initiative is co-directed by the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) and the Arts and Humanities Center for Synergy.

Launched in January 2017, AADHum has hosted a robust program of events, digital skills trainings, and workshops, as well as facilitated numerous scholarly talks and reading groups. In October 2018, AADHum was proud to host a national conference that convened scholars and practitioners from across the nation and the globe to share and engage with research that is Intentionally Digital, Intentionally Black. AADHum has also undertaken an expansive digitization venture in its partnerships with:

• the Center for Global Migration Studies (formerly The Center for the History of the New America), which houses the Archive of Immigrant Voices;
• the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of Visual Art and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora and its collection of over 50,000 objects that chronicle the development and understanding of the study of African American visual culture; and,
• the UMD libraries’  recently acquired George Meany Memorial AFL-CIO Archive, a preeminent research collection for the study of American labor history.

Through this work, AADHum’s community has grown well beyond its geographic location in the DC metropolitan area. We hope you’ll join us!