Two African American Studies students — an alumna and a senior — are participating in their dream internships this summer.

Anissa Latham-Brown, B.A. 2017

Before Anissa Latham-Brown graduated from UAB, she told African American Studies program director Kathryn Morgan that her "dream would be to get an internship in New York with Pacifica Radio.” This summer she is interning with WBAI 99.5 Pacifica Radio in New York City. As a member of the Pacifica Radio chain, WBAI is a listener-supported radio station with an international audience. The station's programming encompasses a variety of categories, including news, arts, music, public affairs, health, and science and ecology. The station leadership's mission is to “provide radio that informs, educates, and entertains New York with a critical approach to politics, art, music, literature, health, and culture.”

Anissa graduated UAB in April 2017 with a B.A. in African American Studies and a B.A. in an Individually Designed Major, Cultural Digital Storytelling. With a GPA of 3.93, she was the 2015-2016 recipient of the African American Studies Academic Scholarship.

As a student, she was media fellow with UAB Digital Media and a production assistant with Yellow Cake Films. She was also the Social Media Manager for African American Studies. For her capstone project, Anissa created an independent film, 942 Greene Avenue. The film examines her family's participation in the Great Migration (to New York) during the 1960s and their return to the South.

Madison Allen, Senior

Madison Allen is spending the summer between her junior and senior year at the Smithsonian Institution in an internship at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened to the public on September 24, 2016. It is the newest of the Smithsonian Institution museums and the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture.

Madison is a senior pursuing a double major in African American Studies and Sociology (with a concentration in Social Psychology). She is the recipient The Annie P. and Ferris S. Ritchey Sr. Endowed Scholarship Honor Recipient (2015-2016) from the Department of Sociology and the African American Studies Academic Scholarship (2016-2017). She is also in the University Honors Program.

According to Madison, working at the museum will be an opportunity to learn more about the Black Museum movement and acquire knowledge about program development, partnership development, and archival research and cataloging. She is excited to be able to use the knowledge that she has gained in her African American Studies classes.