Academy Brings University Studies To Urban Areas
THEY WERE TAKING PART in The Saturday Academy, a cultural enrichment program founded by Hudson and his wife
On a recent Saturday morning, J. Blaine Hudson was giving a lecture about the shifting national attitudes towards educating African-American since the Civil War. This wasn’t unusual, considering Hudson is the Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Louisville and the former chair of U of L’s Pan-African Studies Department.
What was unusual was the Hudson’s speech.
Instead of a chattering classroom of young scholars, Hudson was speaking to adults spread out among folding chairs. They were taking part in The Saturday Academy, a cultural enrichment program founded by Hudson and his wife Bani Hines-Hudson. The academy gives people access to the faculty and resources of U of L, and the school learns about the concerns of the community it serves.
“Instead of being isolated on the campus near downtown, the university community is educating the city as a whole on topics like education, environmental justice and civil rights, which affect everyone,” Hudson said.
The Saturday Academy is an extension of U of L’s mission, as an urban university, to use its resources to solve problems that affect Louisville. The school certainly has made strides in transforming itself from what was perceived as an average commuter school to a top-flight teaching and research institution. In January, researchers at U of L’s Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center received $4.7 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health for studies into spinal cord damage and Alzheimer’s disease. Those researchers came to U of L through Kentucky’s Bucks for Brains program, which provides state funds to match private money raised for endowed chairs.
The Saturday Academy began as a partnership between Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) and U of L’s Pan African Studies Department, while Hudson was its head. The initial goal was to educate teachers about African-American culture and issues, but the free classes also developed a devoted following from all races and cultures. This original incarnation of The Saturday Academy lasted from 1991 to 2002, when the JCPS initiative ended. However, JCPS did agree to provide space for The Saturday Academy after Hudson decided to continue it through U of L with help from the Louisville Urban League, the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, Shawnee Community Center and Fifth District Metro Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton.
“A lot of folks wanted us to keep doing it,” Hudson said. “I would like to see it continue after I’m gone. In the future, I’d like to raise money for some sort of endowment because, unless they take a class at U of L, there is no way for average person to access this information. What they usually see in popular culture is wrong. People that come here are people that already know a little or a lot about African-American history, but they want to know more. … There are some people that are here every Saturday.”
The Saturday Academy meets at Shawnee Community Center, 607 S. 37th St., on the first and third Saturdays of the month and at DuValle Education Center, 3610 Bohne Ave., on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month. For more information on The Saturday Academy, call 852-2252 or e-mail Bani Hines-Hudson at bhineshudson@yahoo.com or Dr. J. Blaine Hudson at jhudson01@louisville.edu.
