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Category: African American Studies

November 12, 2018

Max Felker-Kantor: Police Power, Race, and Reform in Urban America: Lessons from L.A.

Today we welcome a guest post from Max Felker-Kantor, author of Policing Los Angeles:  Race, Resistance, and the Rise of the LAPD, just published by UNC Press. Felker-Kantor narrates the dynamic history of policing, anti-police abuse movements, race, and politics in Los Angeles from the 1965 Watts uprising to the 1992 Los Angeles rebellion. Using the explosions of two large-scale… Continue Reading Max Felker-Kantor: Police Power, Race, and Reform in Urban America: Lessons from L.A.

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Author blog entry/Civil Rights/Current Events/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
November 6, 2018

Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy: In Politics to Stay

Today is Election Day, and we welcome a guest post from Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy, author of Jim Crow Capital:  Women and Black Freedom Struggles in Washington, D.C., 1920–1945, just published by UNC Press. In her new book, Murphy tells the story of how African American women in D.C. transformed civil rights politics in their freedom struggles between 1920 and 1945. Even… Continue Reading Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy: In Politics to Stay

Categories African American Studies/Author blog entry/Civil Rights/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
October 31, 2018

#HistoryMatters: A roundup of UNC Press authors on Reconstruction and the 14th Amendment

2018 is the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. This sweeping amendment was among the great accomplishments under Reconstruction; together with the 13th Amendment ending slavery and the 15th Amendment granting people of color and former slaves the right to vote, the 14th Amendment is foundational for the civil liberties and civil… Continue Reading #HistoryMatters: A roundup of UNC Press authors on Reconstruction and the 14th Amendment

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/Civil Rights/Civil War/Current Events/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
October 30, 2018

Osha Gray Davidson: “The Best of Enemies,” The Film

Today we’re delighted to share a guest post from Osha Gray Davidson, author of The Best of Enemies:  Race and Redemption in the New South. The book is a page-turning account of the unlikely friendship between Ann Atwater, an African American activist in Durham, North Carolina, and C. P. Ellis, a local member of the Ku Klux Klan. Osha’s book… Continue Reading Osha Gray Davidson: “The Best of Enemies,” The Film

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Author blog entry/Civil Rights/Film/North Carolina/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
October 25, 2018

Anne Balay: A Trucker’s “Me Too”

Today we welcome a guest post from Anne Balay, author of Semi Queer:  Inside the World of Gay, Trans, and Black Truck Drivers, just published by UNC Press. Long-haul trucking is linked to almost every industry in America, yet somehow the working-class drivers behind big rigs remain largely hidden from public view. Gritty, inspiring, and often devastating oral histories of… Continue Reading Anne Balay: A Trucker’s “Me Too”

Categories African American Studies/Author blog entry/Current Events/Gay / Lesbian Studies/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
October 4, 2018

Hannah Gill: Silent Sam in Carolina del Norte

Today we welcome a guest post from Hannah Gill, author of the new revised and expanded edition of The Latino Migration Experience in North Carolina:  New Roots in the Old North State, just published by UNC Press. Now thoroughly updated and revised—with a new chapter on the Dreamer movement and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA)—Hannah Gill’s book… Continue Reading Hannah Gill: Silent Sam in Carolina del Norte

Categories African American Studies/Author blog entry/Current Events/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./Latino Studies/North Carolina/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
September 26, 2018

Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy: Supreme Court Matters

Today we welcome a guest post from Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy, author of Jim Crow Capital:  Women and Black Freedom Struggles in Washington, D.C., 1920–1945, which UNC Press will publish in November. In her new book, Murphy tells the story of how African American women in D.C. transformed civil rights politics in their freedom struggles between 1920 and 1945. Even though no… Continue Reading Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy: Supreme Court Matters

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Author blog entry/Current Events/Law / Legal History/Politics/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
September 6, 2018

Pamela Grundy: In Search of Ora Washington

Today we welcome a guest post from historian Pamela Grundy, whose work helped lead to the nomination, and upcoming enshrinement, of Ora Washington, who was credited as the greatest female athlete of her time and was a part of 11 straight Women’s Colored Basketball Championship teams, into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later this week. ### Pamela Grundy:… Continue Reading Pamela Grundy: In Search of Ora Washington

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Author blog entry/Sports/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
August 30, 2018

#HistoryMatters: A roundup of UNC Press authors on the Silent Sam monument controversy

From our offices on the edge of the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, UNC Press staff have had an especially close vantage point to observe the events and debates surrounding the fall of the university’s Confederate monument, known as “Silent Sam.” It’s no surprise that a number of Press authors have written and spoken in many prominent locations as the wider public… Continue Reading #HistoryMatters: A roundup of UNC Press authors on the Silent Sam monument controversy

Categories African American Studies/Civil Rights/Civil War/Southern Studies/UNC Press News
August 29, 2018

Author Interview: A Conversation with Jeff Wiltse, author of Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America

As we approach the Labor Day weekend and the end of the summer swimming pool season, UNC Press publicity director Gina Mahalek talks to Jeff Wiltse, author of Contested Waters:  A Social History of Swimming Pools in America. From 19th-century public baths to today’s private backyard havens, swimming pools have been a provocative symbol of American life. In this social… Continue Reading Author Interview: A Conversation with Jeff Wiltse, author of Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America

Categories African American Studies/Civil Rights/Interviews/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
July 24, 2018

John M. Coggeshall: “Can you change history? Yes and no.”

Today we welcome a guest post from John M. Coggeshall, author of Liberia, South Carolina: An African American Appalachian Community, just published by UNC Press. In 2007, while researching mountain culture in upstate South Carolina, anthropologist John M. Coggeshall stumbled upon the small community of Liberia in the Blue Ridge foothills. There he met Mable Owens Clarke and her family,… Continue Reading John M. Coggeshall: “Can you change history? Yes and no.”

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Author blog entry/Current Events/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
July 12, 2018

Nadine Cohodas: Reconstructing Nina Simone’s Earliest Days

Today we welcome a guest post from Nadine Cohodas, author of Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone, available in paperback from UNC Press. Born Eunice Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina, Nina Simone (1933-2003) began her musical life playing classical piano. A child prodigy, she wanted a career on the concert stage, but when the Curtis Institute of Music… Continue Reading Nadine Cohodas: Reconstructing Nina Simone’s Earliest Days

Categories African American Studies/Author blog entry/Music/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
June 1, 2018

Remembering Mama Dip: by William Ferris

Many people from all walks of life are mourning the death, on May 20, of Mildred Council, eighty-nine years old and widely known as Mama Dip. Mama Dip was appreciated far and wide, in so many ways, by so many people. Below, we are honored to include the appreciation of Mama Dip given at her memorial service on May 27… Continue Reading Remembering Mama Dip: by William Ferris

Categories African American Studies/Cooking / Food/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
May 31, 2018

Remembering Mama Dip: by Elaine Maisner, Executive Editor, UNC Press

Remembering Mama Dip Many people from all walks of life are mourning the death, on May 20, of Mildred Council, eighty-nine years old and widely known as Mama Dip. Mama Dip was appreciated far and wide, in so many ways, by so many people.  I’d like to take the opportunity to offer a remembrance of my own, as the UNC… Continue Reading Remembering Mama Dip: by Elaine Maisner, Executive Editor, UNC Press

Categories African American Studies/Cooking / Food/Recipes/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
May 29, 2018

Hendrik Hartog: What’s in a Word

Today we welcome a guest post from Hendrik Hartog, author of The Trouble with Minna:  A Case of Slavery and Emancipation in the Antebellum North, just published by UNC Press. In this intriguing book, Hendrik Hartog uses a forgotten 1840 case to explore the regime of gradual emancipation that took place in New Jersey over the first half of the… Continue Reading Hendrik Hartog: What’s in a Word

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Law / Legal History/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
May 25, 2018

Remembering Mama Dip: by Gina Mahalek, Publicity Director, UNC Press

Remembering Mama Dip As UNC Press’s Publicity Director, I had the privilege of working with Mildred Council, who passed away on May 20, 2018 at the age of 89, on promoting Mama Dip’s Kitchen (UNC Press’s best selling title of all time) and the classic Mama Dip’s Family Cookbook.  This included being Mama Dip’s media escort on many of her… Continue Reading Remembering Mama Dip: by Gina Mahalek, Publicity Director, UNC Press

Categories African American Studies/Cooking / Food/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
May 24, 2018

Courtney Elizabeth Knapp: Trumpism and Anarchist Problem Solving

Today we welcome a guest post from Courtney Elizabeth Knapp, author of Constructing the Dynamo of Dixie:  Race, Urban Planning, and Cosmopolitanism in Chattanooga, Tennessee, just published from UNC Press. What can local histories of interracial conflict and collaboration teach us about the potential for urban equity and social justice in the future? Courtney Elizabeth Knapp chronicles the politics of… Continue Reading Courtney Elizabeth Knapp: Trumpism and Anarchist Problem Solving

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Author blog entry/Civil Rights/Current Events/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
May 15, 2018

Courtney Elizabeth Knapp: Reckoning with Local Legacies of Racialized Violence

Today we welcome a guest post from Courtney Elizabeth Knapp, author of Constructing the Dynamo of Dixie:  Race, Urban Planning, and Cosmopolitanism in Chattanooga, Tennessee, just published this month from UNC Press. What can local histories of interracial conflict and collaboration teach us about the potential for urban equity and social justice in the future? Courtney Elizabeth Knapp chronicles the… Continue Reading Courtney Elizabeth Knapp: Reckoning with Local Legacies of Racialized Violence

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Civil Rights/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
May 9, 2018

Rebecca Tuuri: Black Women’s Political Power (and Pragmatism)

Today we welcome a guest post by Rebecca Tuuri, author of Strategic Sisterhood: The National Council of Negro Women in the Black Freedom Struggle, just published by UNC Press. When women were denied a major speaking role at the 1963 March on Washington, Dorothy Height, head of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), organized her own women’s conference for… Continue Reading Rebecca Tuuri: Black Women’s Political Power (and Pragmatism)

Categories African American Studies/Author blog entry/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
April 30, 2018

Steven M. Stowe: Understanding People We Don’t Like

Today we welcome a guest post from Steven M. Stowe, author of Keep the Days:  Reading the Civil War Diaries of Southern Women, just published by UNC Press. Americans wrote fiercely during the Civil War. War surprised, devastated, and opened up imagination, taking hold of Americans’ words as well as their homes and families. The personal diary—wildly ragged yet rooted… Continue Reading Steven M. Stowe: Understanding People We Don’t Like

Categories African American Studies/Author blog entry/Civil War/Southern Studies/UNC Press News/Women's Studies