The Work of the Center
The St. Clair Drake Center for African and African American Studies

The St. Clair Drake Center, dedicated to the memory of Professor St.Clair Drake, is committed to documenting and exploring the contributions, challenges and conditions of African and African American communities. The work of the Drake Center is activist by design and intent.

Professor Drake’s groundbreaking work, Black Metropolis – co-authored with Horace R. Cayton and published in 1943 - is a landmark study of race and urban life. Professor Drake began his academic career teaching at Roosevelt University; later he taught at Stanford University.

The Drake Center seeks to use research, evaluation, and policy analysis as tools to examine some of the issues facing the African and African American communities. Its orientation is multidisciplinary, and it is home to historians, sociologist, educators and political scientists.

To ensure that the work of the Drake Center is scholarly and relevant, the Drake Center partners with community-based organizations that work in targeted geographic locations. For example, the Drake Center is exploring opportunities to collaborate with several agencies, including the Center for New Horizons, The Abraham Lincoln Centre, and Hull House. The Abraham Lincoln Centre and the Center for New Horizons are both located in Chicago’s Bronzeville community, the subject of Professor Drake’s work.