On March 7, 1969 the Faculty Council directed the Instructional Problems Committee to report on the demand of african american students "that black studies program be initiated." The committee recommended in June of that year that an "interdisciplinary minor or major in black studies" be created. By the fall of 1970, the first interdisciplinary major or minor subject was offered in Black Studies at Eastern Michigan University. In May 1973 the Board of Regents approved the hire of a Director of Black Studies and Gerald McIntosh was appointed to serve as the first program director. He served in this role until 1978 when Ronald C. Woods took over at the program director. The program name changed to Afro-American Studies program in the late 1970s, early 1980s.

In 1990 the Board of Regents approved a new degree program in African American Studies allowing the program to receive department status and a department head. Since its inception, the department, now known at the Department of Africology and African American Studies (AAAS), has provided programs of study, research and service on the African world experience with particular focus on the life and culture of people of African descent in the Americas.

Students engage in the study of African and African Americans in the United States, the African diaspora, and the African continent itself, using a broad array of interdisciplinary tools. As of 2014, the department offered a bachelor's degree program in African American Studies, a minor in African American Studies, a graduate certificate in African American Studies and an undergraduate certificate in African Studies.