Twenty years ago, scholars at UT Austin drafted a five-page manifesto that imagined Black studies as more than a field — as a framework for liberation. Today, as universities restructure departments, discontinue majors, and reshape the conditions under which we teach and learn, those words hit different.

In this episode, Dr. Rhon returns to The Austin School Manifesto: An Approach to the Black or African Diaspora — a call for activist research, Black feminist praxis, and intellectual work that refuses to separate thinking from living. Read against the backdrop of department consolidations at UT Austin, shifting institutional priorities at UNC Chapel Hill, and a national climate of political scrutiny over race, gender, and sexuality in higher education, the manifesto reminds us that our fields were never simply granted. They were demanded.

Manifestos aren't relics. They're living calls. And twenty years later, they still move.

Sources:

• Read “The Austin School Manifesto: An Approach to the Black or African Diaspora” from its original publication in Cultural Dynamics (2007), courtesy of the UT Austin Library.
• Access the Black Feminist Collective Repository powered by an intergenerational and transnational group of Black feminists and womanists, for a plethora of resources.
• Learn more about the Sonja Haynes Stone Center and Support our work.

Dr. Rhon opens season three of Stone Written by unpacking a phrase that’s stuck with her all year: Black studies was “born moving.” Tracing the field's movement roots, she makes the case for the Sonja Haynes Stone Center as an academic and cultural institution — not an “affinity center” — and explores what it takes to sustain that mission today. Along the way, she reflects on Dr. Sonja Haynes Stone’s legacy, the false choice between movement and institutional stability, and why she's inviting listeners to become stewards of the Stone Center's future. Part reflection, part call to action, this episode sets the tone for a season about memory, purpose, and moving forward without losing who you are.

Sources:

• The Black Studies Podcast featuring Dr. Rhon (April 17, 2026)
• The Sonja Haynes Stone Center linktree

In this episode of Stone Written, Dr. Rhon sits down with Kara Endsley, the Sonja Haynes Stone Center's first full-time Philanthropy Officer, for a candid conversation about fundraising, legacy, and the urgent work of securing the Stone Center's future.

Kara brings over 30 years of fundraising experience — and a deeply personal connection to this mission. Together, she and Dr. Rhon pull back the curtain on the real challenges facing the Stone Center: limited resources, disenchanted alumni, and the repair work needed to rebuild trust with a community that has every reason to be skeptical.

But this episode is also a call to action. With a bold $25 million campaign underway and the fiscal year closing in, now is the time to show up. Whether it's $20 a month or $20,000 — your investment is your vote for the Stone Center's survival and its legacy for generations to come.

Sources:

• Get in touch with Kara Endsley, the Stone Center’s Philanthropy Officer, via email or our website.

• Make the Sonja Haynes Stone Center your philanthropic priority!

• The Sonja Haynes Stone Center website and linktree.

• “Defining Philanthropy” as love of humankind (May 2026) by Michael Layton.