Marshall University will host a series of lectures by distinguished scholars centering around the long civil rights movement in the U.S. during the fall semester, according to Dr. David Trowbridge, associate professor of history and director of African and African American Studies.
“The series is inspired by a course that I am co-teaching with Joan Browning, one of the original Freedom Riders,” Trowbridge said. “Joan told me that her top priority was to get students to think beyond the ‘Eyes on the Prize’ series. I hope these six topics will help to achieve that goal. Our speakers include Bancroft Prize winners and recipients of the Carter G. Woodson Medallion. We are certainly fortunate to have six scholars of this magnitude come to Marshall this semester.”
The lecturers and their topics include:
Tuesday, Sept. 11 – Dr. Thomas J. Sugrue spoke on the unique aspects of the civil rights struggle in Northern communities. He is the author of Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North, and is the recipient of the Bancroft Prize for the best book in the field of history.
Tuesday, Sept. 25 – Dr. Tracy K’Meyer will lecture about the unique history of nearby communities within Kentucky and their experience during the civil rights movement. K’Meyer is the author of Civil Rights in the Gateway to the South: Louisville, Kentucky, 1945-1980.
Tuesday, Oct. 9 – Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries will address the voting rights movement in Alabama which gave rise to the original Black Panthers—a local political party in Lowndes County, Ala. He is the author of Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt.
Tuesday, Oct. 23 – Dr. Danielle McGuire will speak on the connection between the civil rights movement and efforts to confront violence against black women in the Jim Crow South. She is the author of At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance, A New History of the Civil Rights Movement. McGuire was the winner of the 2011 Frederick Jackson Turner Award from the Organization of American Historians.
Tuesday, Nov. 6 – Dr. John M. Glen’s topic will be the connection between Appalachia and the civil rights movement. A scholar of Appalachian history, he will discuss the importance of the Highlander School and other interracial collaborations in Appalachia during the movement. Glen is the author of Highlander: No Ordinary School.
Tuesday, Nov. 13 – The final lecture features Dr. Bettye Collier-Thomas speaking on the unique experiences of women and their contributions to the civil rights movement. She also will discuss the way the civil rights movement led to greater activism among women. She is the author of numerous books including the award-winning Sisters in the Struggle: African-American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement.
All six lectures will begin at 7 p.m. in the Marshall Foundation Hall, home of the Erickson Alumni Center on the Huntington campus and are free to the public. This series is sponsored by the West Virginia Humanities Council and Marshall’s College of Liberal Arts, the Center for African-American Students’ Programs, Multicultural Affairs, the Department of History, and the African and African American Studies Program.
