Category: African American Studies

October 28, 2008

Christensen, Shelby, Hogan earn awards

Three UNCP authors deserve special cheers for winning awards recently: Rob Christensen, author of The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics, has been awarded the 2008 Ragan Old North State Award for Nonfiction by the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association. The successor to the organization’s Mayflower Cup, the Ragan Old North State Award honors Sam Ragan: poet, critic, publisher, and… Continue Reading Christensen, Shelby, Hogan earn awards

African American Studies/American History/Appalachian Studies/Awards/Civil Rights/Fiction/History/Juvenile/North Carolina/Politics/UNC Press News

October 27, 2008

Durham County Library lecture series: “Divining America: Religion in American History”

The Durham County Library is in the midst of a fantastic lecture series called “Divining America: Religion in American History,” which kicked off in mid September and runs through November. The series explores many of the major religious movements and watershed moments in American history from the seventeenth through twentieth centuries. Lectures/discussion sessions so far have covered Deism, Puritanism, Native… Continue Reading Durham County Library lecture series: “Divining America: Religion in American History”

African American History/African American Studies/American History/Civil War/Events/History/Religion

October 24, 2008

BookTV airs “2008 Best of the Best from University Presses”

If you’re not on your way to the Lexington Barbecue Festival Saturday morning around 10 a.m., tune in to C-SPAN2 for BookTV’s presentation of the 2008 Best of the Best from University Presses. The program consists of a panel of 5 librarians discussing their favorite university press books of the year, one of which is Jeff Wiltse’s book Contested Waters:… Continue Reading BookTV airs “2008 Best of the Best from University Presses”

African American Studies/American History/American Studies/Civil Rights/Gender Studies/History

October 9, 2008

Ella Baker Tour – SNCC alums to visit Durham

The Ella Baker Tour and Retreat, sponsored by the Southern Anti-Racism Network (SARN), is inspiring a wave of intergenerational dialogue and cooperation between veterans of the Civil Rights Movement and a new generation of social justice activists. The SARN website explains the tour’s origins this way: Social change movements led by people of African descent in the U.S. are experiencing… Continue Reading Ella Baker Tour – SNCC alums to visit Durham

African American Studies/American History/Civil Rights/Events/North Carolina

September 25, 2008

E. Patrick Johnson’s “Pouring Tea” in Chapel Hill and Durham

If you didn’t go check out the videos mentioned in Tom’s post on Sweet Tea a couple of weeks ago, go do it now. In fact, here’s a direct link to the page where the videos are. Go on. I’ll wait. . . . . . . Okay, I actually just went and re-watched all six of them again. I… Continue Reading E. Patrick Johnson’s “Pouring Tea” in Chapel Hill and Durham

African American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Gay / Lesbian Studies/Local Indy Booksellers/UNC Press News

September 24, 2008

Deaf Awareness Week

I took some sign language classes about twenty years ago and had some interaction with the deaf community at the time, but when the classes ended, I didn’t keep it up. I remember little more than the American Sign Language (ASL) alphabet, plus a few things like “more,” “thank you,” and “finished,” which I learned again when my sister started… Continue Reading Deaf Awareness Week

African American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Disability Studies/Literature/North Carolina

September 22, 2008

American Business Women’s Day

Maggie Lena Walker (third from the left in the cover photo) was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1867 (or 1864, or 1865, depending on your source). She spent her lifetime working to empower the black community there, even as early as high school, when she led a protest against the segregation policy that prevented her class from holding its graduation… Continue Reading American Business Women’s Day

African American Studies/American History/Biography / Autobiography/Women's Studies

September 12, 2008

Taking a Break with Sweet Tea

Working in the IT division of the Press, I don’t get a chance to interact with many of our authors. E. Patrick Johnson is one author I have had the pleasure of corresponding with. Through my work with Johnson to select and refine our promotional page for his book (see below) I can attest to his humor, his appreciation for… Continue Reading Taking a Break with Sweet Tea

African American Studies/Gender Studies/Interviews

August 12, 2008

Charles Irons on Today’s State of Things

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. called 11 a.m. Sunday mornings “the most segregated hour of the week.” Even today, integrated churches are the exception, not the rule. But that wasn’t always the case. In the colonial and antebellum South, black and white evangelicals frequently prayed, sang, and worshipped together. In The Origins of Proslavery Christianity: White and Black Evangelicals in… Continue Reading Charles Irons on Today’s State of Things

African American History/African American Studies/American History/History/Podcasts/Religion

New Project Aims to “Publish the Long Civil Rights Movement”

Cool activist-esque things to do through the years: early 1960s: register African American voters in the South; late 1960s: protest Vietnam War/attend large-scale concert in upstate New York; 1970s: burn bra while reading Erica Jong; 1990s: wear a red ribbon on an expensive tuxedo; 2008: get involved in the electoral process. Considering the upcoming election season, significant change seems possible,… Continue Reading New Project Aims to “Publish the Long Civil Rights Movement”

African American History/African American Studies/American History/Civil Rights/Education/Environmental Studies/Gay / Lesbian Studies/Gender Studies/Health / Medicine/History/UNC Press News/Women's Studies

Today in history: the 14th Amendment takes effect

On July 28, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was declared in effect, after the required 28 states had ratified the bill that was propsed in 1866. The amendment guaranteed due process and the equal protection of the laws to former slaves. This was one of three “Reconstruction Amendments” meant to restructure the U.S. from a land divided… Continue Reading Today in history: the 14th Amendment takes effect

African American History/African American Studies/American History/History

Hear Spencie Love on today’s State of Things

Last week, the American Medical Association issued a formal apology for its history of discrimination against black doctors. Today on The State of Things, Frank Stasio and guests will discuss race and health care – particularly, this history of racial discrimination and its ongoing effects, including under-representation of black doctors in the health care profession and the widening of health… Continue Reading Hear Spencie Love on today’s State of Things

African American History/African American Studies/Civil Rights/Health / Medicine/History/North Carolina/Podcasts

California Dreams

In a recent segment on Berkeley and Watts in their “California Dreaming” series, NPR’s syndicated program Day to Day featured Kirse Granat May, author of Golden State, Golden Youth: The California Image in Popular Culture, 1955-1966. [May appears around the 2:20 mark in the podcast.]

African American Studies/American History/American Studies/Podcasts

New Civil Rights Marker to be Unveiled in Durham

On June 23, 1957, six African American youths, accompanied by the Rev. Douglas Moore, sat down in booths reserved for white patrons at the Royal Ice Cream Parlor in Durham, North Carolina. When the owner called police, all seven protesters were arrested and charged with trespassing. This was the first major sit-in of Durham’s civil rights struggle.

African American History/African American Studies/American History/Civil Rights/North Carolina/Women's Studies