Members are primarily academic scholars, professors, and graduate students who specialize in African American studies and literature as well as world languages.

[7] Notable contributors include John Frederick Matheus, Therman O'Daniel, Lucy Clemmons Grigsby, A. Russell Brooks, Darwin Turner, Charles A. Ray, Nick Aaron Ford, Dana Williams, Houston A. Baker Jr., Margaret Walker Alexander, Sterling Allen Brown, Maryemma Graham, Trudier Harris, and Jerry Ward.

CLA's annual Convention and peer-reviewed academic journal, the College Language Association Journal (CLAJ), support the organization's commitments to literary excellence, inclusivity, and advocacy for scholarly research in and the teaching of Black literatures and cultures as necessary aspects of higher education.

CLA publishes the College Language Association Journal, an international multilingual peer-reviewed bi-annual publication.

CLA hosts an annual Convention in the spring of each year, preferably in April, at a place chosen with due regard to favoring the several geographical regions represented in the association and subject to venue availability.