African American Stories & Study: Dinis Guarda Interviews Prof. Ula Taylor, University Of California, Berkeley

In the latest episode of the Dinis Guarda Podcast, Dinis Guarda Interviews Prof. Ula Taylor, University of California, Berkeley, who discusses the historical roots of Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, activism during the Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras, gaps in Black Studies, especially in the rural South and the importance of inclusive, community-rooted learning. The podcast is powered by Businessabc.net, Citiesabc.com, Wisdomia.ai, and Sportsabc.org.

Prof. Ula Y. Taylor is a professor in the Department of African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She specialises in African American history, black feminist theory, and intellectual traditions of African American women. Her research covers black nationalism, Pan-Africanism, and civil rights movements from 1890 to 1980.

Prof. Ulla discusses the historical significance of Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism:

"During the period of Jim Crow legal segregation in the United States, black people understood the importance that they could pretty much only lean on each other. 

So today in 2025, we often talk about allies. But during the age of Jim Crow, the allies were very, very, very few in number. And so black people had to organise amongst themselves to figure out how to create the world that they wanted to live in, to figure out how to create a world that was fair and that offered opportunities for themselves and their children.”

Prof. Taylor is the author of The Promise of Patriarchy: Women and the Nation of Islam, The Veiled Garvey: The Life and Times of Amy Jacques Garvey, co-author of Panther: A Pictorial History of the Black Panther Party and The Story Behind the Film and co-editor of Black California Dreamin': The Crisis of California African American Communities.

Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism

As the interview continues, Prof. Ulla says,

“During the age of Jim Crow, in many ways, there were limited options outside of working within their own communities.

In the 60s, this is when we really begin to get groups that today we would call allies wherein you had college students who were, you know, young college students who were white at predominantly white institutions who basically went into the South in the 1960s, particularly during Freedom Summer in Mississippi, and said, 'We want to participate in this project called Freedom.

And so during the 60s, this is when we begin to have these allies, if you will, and they learn about the black experience by taking root in those communities, living in those communities, and some of them never left.

And it's during this time that we get a lot of those iconic leaders of the movement, whether it's Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whether it's Minister Malcolm X, whether it's Mrs. Fanny Lou Hamer, whether it's Mrs. Ella Baker.

You get these iconic leaders who begin to provide a vision of what America could be if racism and discrimination were not anchored in the rule of law, in the possibilities of life."

Prof. Ulla also discusses the historical context of activism:

“People had to come together and decide, you know, what were the challenges of participating in the movement? What were the dangers of participating in the movement? What could happen to their families if they participated in the movement?

And people had to decide if they had the bandwidth to do it. 

Just like today, people have to decide if they have the bandwidth to do it. But I would say one of the big differences I've noticed is in terms of the history in terms of how people organised versus how people engage today. 

Historically, particularly amongst student activists. Sometimes, student activists would not be able to go to every organising meeting.

Perhaps they could only go to one a month. Perhaps they could only show up at the protest. And from history, it looks like there was a little bit more grace.

That is, people would say, 'We're still glad to see you here. You know, you weren't at that meeting where we were doing a lot of the grinding and the work, but we're happy to see you here.’

So, I think one of the past lessons is to give ourselves more grace and understand that we can't all be the same kind of activists and have the same kind of intentional commitment as everybody else.

But accept people where they are. And I think there was a little bit more room in history to accept people where they were able to participate."

Challenges in Black Studies

Prof. Ulla highlights critical areas that need more focus in Black Studies:

"I think one of the biggest areas needed in terms of Black studies is doing more work around the rural South. We have a lot of insight and information on the north, the west, and southern cities, but we don't have as much research about the rural south.

There are Black people who did not leave, who did not migrate to southern cities, who did not migrate from Mississippi to Chicago or from Louisiana to Los Angeles like my family.

There are Black people who stayed in the rural South for generations, and in many ways, their history has not received the kind of care and insight that it deserves.

I think another area of Black studies that is lacking that we have to do more around is the diaspora, the Black diaspora in the United States.

I think more of us are going to have to be more multilingual. We're going to have to be able to speak and read documents in Spanish, Old Spanish, and French.

In order to understand the overlapping diasporas, right? How do people come from one place, and then they overlap with people coming from other places?

In many ways, I think the rural south, where Black people continue to work the land for themselves, where they engage in subsistence farming, where many of them don't have access to a quick internet line, where they have to go in town to a local library to have access to the internet.

These people are incredibly important to the history and culture of Black studies in America, and their stories need to be represented more."

Concluding the interview, Prof. Ulla offers insightful advice for young learners, particularly those interested in African-American studies, black feminist theories, and understanding their identity:

“I would advise young people to read everything they can get their hands on, to be voracious readers, and not just read about themselves.

"I read a lot about a lot of other things. I read physics. I read about, oh my goodness, literature. I read when I was sitting on the bus, and I would read the advertisements that were above my head. Read everything and keep a little notebook.

Remember that everyone around us, whether they are formally educated or not, whether they are cleaning your classroom, making your food in the cafeteria, or standing in front of you in the classroom, we all have intellectual value. 

If you can recognise that, I think you will definitely be on your way to being the human being that you want to be."