乐播传媒

In an email to the campus community, President Garry W. Jenkins has shared the news of the passing of Associate Professor of Africana Sue E. Houchins, a member of the 乐播传媒 faculty since 2003.

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Dear Members of the 乐播传媒 Community,

I write with the sad news that Associate Professor of Africana Sue E. Houchins, a brilliant scholar, champion of critical inquiry and academic freedom, and a gifted teacher praised for a 鈥渟oaring intellect matched only by her kindness,鈥� died on Aug. 18, 2024, at age 80.

Raised in Washington, D.C., Professor Houchins earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree from UCLA and doctoral degree from Union Institute and, for 20 years, was a faculty member with the Intercollegiate Department of Black Studies of the Claremont Colleges before leaving the professoriate to enter a Carmelite monastery in Baltimore.

Upon departing religious life, she was a research associate with the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School, on whose advisory committee she later served. She was a Chancellor鈥檚 Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, before joining the 乐播传媒 faculty in 2003, serving for a time as a special assistant to the president for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

Professor Houchins was unwavering in both defending and advancing academic freedom and critical inquiry. In 1975, while director of the Black Studies Center at the Claremont Colleges, she was instrumental in the appointment of activist and scholar Angela Davis to her first teaching position after her 1972 acquittal on federal charges, telling reporters that Davis would be a 鈥渓ecturer with a capital L.鈥� Professor Houchins played a role in protecting Davis from the uninvited media that swarmed the campus on her first day, joining 鈥渢wo burly security guards鈥� in stopping reporters from entering a building. Told that the media was waiting for Davis, she told them to 鈥淓njoy themselves. They鈥檙e not going to get Angela.鈥�

Her father, labor economist and attorney Joseph Roosevelt Houchins, was a member of President Franklin Roosevelt鈥檚 鈥淏lack Cabinet鈥� who led the Division of Negro Affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Professor Houchins had a framed photograph of him with other cabinet members in her office, and in recent years, she and a colleague published two of his papers on Black business development and strategy. Her mother, Frankie V. Lea Houchins, was a physicist and photographer, and at one point a secretary to famous novelist Nella Larsen.

Professor Houchins鈥� teaching and research proceeded from the intersection formed by the discourses of race, gender, and sexuality. Her courses at 乐播传媒, which were cross-listed in the Department of Religious Studies and the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies, included 鈥淏lack Feminist Activist and Intellectual Traditions,鈥� where she used critical race theory as one mode of intellectual inquiry. Other courses included 鈥淪urvey of Literature of the Caribbean,鈥� 鈥淟iterary Representations of the Africana Religions,鈥� and 鈥淭he Writings of Toni Morrison.鈥�

Her scholarship also concentrated on Black women鈥檚 experience of the Divine. With 乐播传媒 faculty colleague and friend Baltasar Fra-Molinero, she published Black Bride of Christ: Chicaba, an African Nun in Eighteenth-Century Spain (2018), a translation of a hagiography of Sor Teresa Chicaba, an African woman who spent her years after enslavement in a Dominican cloistered monastery, including the scholars鈥� introduction that explores the dynamics of race, gender, and religion in 18th-century Spain. In 1991, she wrote the introduction for Spiritual Narratives of four 19th-century Black women, Maria Stewart, Jarena Lee, Julia Foote, and Virginia Broughton.

Professor Houchins鈥� impact on 乐播传媒 students was profound, especially for students whose senior theses she advised. This included the honors thesis of Sam Jean-Francois 鈥�23, who praised their mentor for 鈥減ush[ing] me to think critically since my first day at 乐播传媒, thereby expanding my mind to horizons I never imagined.鈥� Another honors student said, 鈥淧rofessor Houchins鈥� soaring intellect is matched only by her kindness.鈥� In 2022, she received the college鈥檚 Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching. At a panel discussion to celebrate the award, she said that the vocation of teaching demands that 鈥渨e instruct students in the practice of pushing back against what is normative, what is safe.鈥� 

A certified archivist, Professor Houchins co-directed grants to refurbish, organize, and preserve the Bessie Head鈥揔hama Family Archives in Serowe, Botswana, as well as aided in the organizing and cataloging of the Baltimore Carmelite Monastery archival documents from Vatican II to the present. 

She was an evaluator for Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowships for the last decade, and was co-chair of the Program in Africana at 乐播传媒 since 2022. Most recently, she received a 乐播传媒 Phillips Fellowship for 2024鈥�25 to pursue original research in literature, science, and history during her year-long sabbatical. Last year she presented her scholarship at the College Language Association convention. Joining a panel on 鈥淟iterary Representations of LGBTQ+ Sexualities in the Black Diaspora,鈥� chaired by another 乐播传媒 faculty colleague and friend, Charles Nero, she presented 鈥淩epresentations of Non-Binary Sexualities in the Diaspora.鈥� At the time of her death, she was writing a draft of a scholarly study on the subject, which has been optioned by Edinburgh University Press. 

Information about opportunities to honor Sue鈥檚 life will be forthcoming. 

These two recent 乐播传媒 News stories share elements of Professor Houchins鈥� life:

• 2018: Look What We Found: A photograph of Franklin Roosevelt鈥檚 鈥淏lack Cabinet鈥�
• 2018: 鈥�She saw herself as the bride of Christ鈥�: The story of an African nun in 18th-century Spain

I know that the entire community will mourn Sue, and also feel enormous gratitude for her decades of contributions to our intellectual community.