The John Henrik Clarke Africana Library, located at the Center, focuses on the social, economic, and political dimensions of the history and cultures of peoples of African descent.
[4] The ASRC offered its first classes in the fall of 1969 in its first building at 320 Wait Avenue, after the subsequent Willard Straight Hall Takeover.
However, a number of irreplaceable documents, including Turner's draft Ph.D. dissertation were lost in the blaze.
Subsequently, controversy arose because in ASRC's early years, its classes were not printed in the university's course and room roster making it difficult for white students to enroll.
In addition, enrollment in certain classes required the approval of Turner, the Director of ASRC, who would routinely fail to meet with white students who made appointments to see him at his office.
In 2005, the Report of Visiting Committee to the Africana Studies and Research Center which consisted of scholars from Northwestern, Yale and New York University found the ASRC reporting to the Provost to be a "peculiar arrangement," and recommended that Cornell "revisit this arrangement.