History of the IAAR
The IAAR was conceived in the early 1990s by UNC faculty, who believed it was important to have a free-standing building and center devoted to researching black life and history.
Out of their efforts, the Institute of African American Research was established in 1995 as a research unit to foster scholarly inquiry about the experiences of black people in North Carolina, particularly but anywhere else in the US and the world.
Among IAAR’s leading programs over the years are the Moore Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (MURAP) and Students Learning to Advance Truth and Equity (SLATE).
From its inception in the mid-1990s, IAAR-MURAP, a rigorous 10-week summer preparatory fellowship for undergraduates aspiring to pursue careers in academia and scholarship, has sought to promote excellence in higher education by increasing the number of students from underrepresented groups in the US who pursue doctoral degrees in the social sciences, humanities, and fine arts.
Launched in 2020, the IAAR-SLATE initiative aims to engage undergraduate students with a view to interrogating and understanding race, racism, systems of oppression, and racial equity, especially as they concern African Americans.
Effective fall of 2022, a strategic realignment saw the IAAR’s administrative and operational functions merged into the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Research in Black Culture and History. Notable former directors of IAAR include professors Michael Eric Dyson (1995–1997), Fatimah L.C. Jackson (2009–2011), and Karla Slocum (2013–2021).