History

In April 1969, approximately thirty-five black political scientists gathered at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to discuss the problems faced by persons teaching political science at historically black colleges and universities. The group reconvened in September of that year at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association in New York in September of that year.

It was the consensus of this now broader group that the problems facing black political scientists, independent of their geographical location or institution, were sufficiently similar to warrant establishment of a national organization. Consequently, the persons present at this September 1969 meeting voted to establish themselves as the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS). The organization’s first Annual Meeting was held at Atlanta University in Atlanta, GA in May 1970.