Prepared by Zha’Mauri Howard on March 1, 2026 

Revised by: T. DeWayne Moore on October 1, 2026

Collection Overview 

Title of Collection: The Griot Collection 

Dates: 1979-Present 

Extent: 3.3 linear feet, (52 folders) 

Related Collections: None

Access Restrictions: This collection is open for research. 

Use Restrictions: No permission must be obtained from the Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc. (SCAASI) and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts, or images from any materials in this collection. 

Language: English 

Historical Note: The Griot is the scholarly journal of the Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc. (SCAASI), formerly known as the Southern Conference on Afro-American Studies. The organization originated in 1979 following a statewide African American history and culture program at Texas Southern University. Its organizers sought to sustain the program’s intellectual exchange and expand opportunities for interpreting and preserving Black history, particularly in the American South. Through its annual conferences and journal, SCAASI established a forum for scholarship, teaching, and creative expression. 

The journal’s title invokes the West African griot, a custodian of history and cultural memory who communicates through storytelling, poetry, and music. Reflecting that association, The Griot has published scholarly articles alongside poetry, fiction, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Its contributors have examined African, African American, and Caribbean experiences through history, literature, education, politics, religion, and other disciplines. The journal’s combination of research and creative writing brought established scholars, emerging writers, and students into a shared publication. 

The 1983 issues identify Shirley A. J. Hanshaw of Alcorn State University as editor. By 1986, Andrew Baskin of Berea College held the editorship; he remained a prominent editorial figure in issues published through 2014. Ousseynou B. Traore served in literary and coeditorial roles during the 1980s, and Tashia Bradley appeared as coeditor by 2011. Guest editors also shaped individual issues, including the 1987 collection on African and African American literature, ideology, and gender, and the 1989 poetry anthology Natural Rhythms. These publications illustrate the journal’s engagement with both scholarly debate and literary production. 

Prairie View A&M University has maintained longstanding connections to the journal and its sponsoring organization. Historian Howard J. Jones served for many years as SCAASI’s secretary-treasurer, while Prairie View faculty and students contributed to the journal’s pages. As of 2026, The Griot is published through the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab in Prairie View A&M University’s School of Culture, Community, and Human Development, continuing its role as a forum for scholarship and creative work about the African diaspora. 

Scope & Contents: The Griot Collection contains printed journals and related publications documenting the scholarly and literary activities of the Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc. (SCAASI). Materials date from 1979 to 2025 and occupy 3.3 linear feet in four boxes containing 52 folders. The collection is organized into two series: Academic Journals and SCAASI Publications.

Series I, Academic Journals, contains 47 issues of The Griot published between 1983 and 2025. These holdings constitute an incomplete run, with gaps between individual issues and publication years. The journals include scholarly articles, poetry, fiction, interviews, translations, and book reviews addressing African, African American, and Caribbean history and culture. Subjects include education, politics, religion, literature, gender, and the African diaspora. Special issues and thematic collections demonstrate the journal’s engagement with both academic research and creative expression. Editorial mastheads, contributor information, and organizational notices provide additional documentation of the individuals and institutions involved in the journal’s production and SCAASI’s activities. 

Series II, SCAASI Publications, contains five publications dating from 1979 to 2014, including volumes edited by SCAASI co-founder and historian Howard J. Jones. Titles include Lines in August (1979), The Poetic Conscience of African Souls (1982), Faces and Phases of Afro-American History (1982), and Culture ‘N’ Cookin ‘N’ Culture (1983). A publication from SCAASI’s thirty-fifth convention in 2014 documents the organization’s conference activities. Together, these materials encompass poetry, historical scholarship, culinary traditions, and professional exchange. 

The collection supports research into the development of African American studies, Black literary production, and scholarly publishing. It also provides evidence of relationships among SCAASI, historically Black colleges and universities, and other institutions represented by the journal’s contributors and editors. 

Arrangement: Collection is arranged in two series by subject and format. Series are arranged within each series chronologically by date. 

• Series 1 Academic Journals 
• Series 2 SCAASI Publications  

Administrative Information 

Acquisition: PVAMU Assistant Professor of History and WDPL Director T. DeWayne Moore picked up six boxes of materials in the fall of 2025 from the front porch of a home near Wiley College, Texas. He transported the collection directly to the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab, took inventory of their contents, organized them chronologically on shelves, and created a digitization plan for WDPL Digital Archivist Ma’Nya Velasquez. Dr. Moore also updated the formatting guidelines for future digital and printed volumes of The Griot, which began publication in the School of Culture, Community, and Human Development, PVAMU, at the WDPL in Winter 2026, Volume 43:1. The Special Issue–Summer 2026 43:2 is out now!

Preferred Citation: The Griot Collection, WDPL 0001, Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab. School of Culture, Community, and Human Development, Prairie View A&M University. 

Subject Terms: The Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc. (SCAASI), Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), Texas Southern University (TSU), The Griot, Howard Jones.

Inventory