---
title: $1M Gift Establishes Endowed Professorship in African American and Africana Studies
date: 2026-10-21T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/1m-gift-establishes-endowed-professorship-in-african-american-and-africana-studies"
section: Articles
---
# $1M Gift Establishes Endowed Professorship in African American and Africana Studies

*October 21, 2026* — by [Rachael Grahame ’17](/author/rachael-keeney-17)


> Alumna’s support will help recruit and retain top scholars in a field that shaped her career in law and service.

*Students studying on campus outside of Taliaferro Hall. — The Department of African American and Africana Studies, housed in the Taliaferro Building, has received its largest gift ever: $1 million to establish the department’s first named professorship. (Photo by Madison Wells-James)*

<span>A $1 million gift from one of the first University of Maryland students to major in African American studies will uplift the department’s future. </span>

<span>Singleton McAllister, an attorney who worked for pioneering former congressman Parren J. Mitchell M.S. ’52, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Agency for International Development, endowed a new professorship bearing her name in what is now the </span>[<span>Department of African American and Africana Studies</span>](https://aaas.umd.edu/)<span>. It is the department’s first named professorship and the largest gift it has ever received. </span>


*Singleton B. McAllister headshot — Singleton B. McAllister*




**Topics:** [Campus &amp; Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community)


**Tags:** [African American and Africana Studies](https://today.umd.edu/topic/african-american-studies), [Multicultural Community](https://today.umd.edu/topic/multicultural-community), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Behavioral and Social Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-behavioral-and-social-sciences)