Inspired by the commitment to academic rigor, independent thinking, and intellectual audacity demonstrated by Tejumola Olaniyan (1959-2019) as a teacher, scholar, administrator, and leader in diverse professional settings over several decades, the Tejumola Olaniyan Foundation seeks to advance and foster new directions in the field of global black cultural studies. This was the mission that dominated his intellectual life, and which shall inform the operations of the Foundation. The Foundation understands Black Cultural Studies as broadly encompassing research on Black cultural forms in their connection with social and political trends on the African continent and its diaspora.