[7][8] Since its founding, the journal served as a platform for scholars across the diaspora, giving voice to "Africans and Afro-Americans, students, non-academics and academics.

[9] This has included articles about African history, politics, economics, sociology, anthropology, law, planning and development, and literature.

The journal was initially edited by seven graduate students: Robert Cummings, Salih El Arifi, Sondra Hale, Adolfo Mascarenhas, Reynee Pouissant, Joy Stewart, and Allen Thurm.

[13] The journal published the first articles of some of the most cited scholars in African studies, including Walter Rodney, whose essays became the book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, John Thornton, and Sondra Hale.

Influential articles from Ufahamu include Judith Van Allen's 1975 essay on the Igbo Women's War of 1929, Sondra Hale on the controversy over genital cutting, Edward Alpers on African economic history and underdevelopment,[14] Christopher Ehret on African history,[15][16] and articles on the limitations of universal literary critiera,[17] Garveyism,[18] and trance in Nigerian theater.