Along with Mary Frances Berry, John Blassingame helped to found the University of Maryland African-American Studies Department.

He went on to a distinguished academic career and was Chair of the Yale
African-American Studies Department when he died in February of 2000. He served on a number of editorial boards, including Reviews in American History, Black Scholar, Journal of Negro History, and Southern Studies. BOOKS: His publications include The Slave Community (1972), Black New Orleans, 1860-1880 (1973), Slave Testimony (1977), and, with Mary F. Berry, Long Memory: The Black Experience in America (1982).