Category: Civil Rights

Historians on ‘The Help’: Vanessa May and Rebecca Sharpless Respond

Historians Vanessa May and Rebecca Sharpless discuss what’s wrong and what’s right with ‘The Help.’ Continue Reading Historians on ‘The Help’: Vanessa May and Rebecca Sharpless Respond

Philip Rubio comments on black unemployment & the legacy of segregation

Philip F. Rubio, postal worker-turned-history scholar and author of There’s Always Work at the Post Office: African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs, Justice, and Equality, has recently lent his expertise on race issues in government employment and especially the postal service in two very different but equally fascinating news outlets.  In a recent Huffington Post feature, “Black… Continue Reading Philip Rubio comments on black unemployment & the legacy of segregation

Brian D. Behnken: Vanquishing Race by Banishing Words?: Ethno-racial Designations and the Problem of Postracialism

The problem with postracialism is that it doesn’t jibe with reality and, despite the best intentions of its advocates, it obscures and constricts the multifaceted nature of identity. Continue Reading Brian D. Behnken: Vanquishing Race by Banishing Words?: Ethno-racial Designations and the Problem of Postracialism

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 57 years ago today

Fifty-seven years have passed since the ruling in this monumental Supreme Court case that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and found laws for “separate but equal” black schools and white schools to be unconstitutional. While this decision was a huge move in the right direction in the Civil Rights movement, it was met with resistance by many, especially sending shockwaves through… Continue Reading Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 57 years ago today

International Women’s Day Megapost Spectacular!

Happy International Women’s Day!  People are recognizing and celebrating the importance of women all over the world–check out the #InternationalWomensDay hashtag on Twitter to see the many ways people are expressing their appreciation for women today.  Here in the U.S., the month of March is National Women’s History Month, where we celebrate the many great achievements by women over the… Continue Reading International Women’s Day Megapost Spectacular!

James Wolfinger: A Tale of Two Levittowns: Race and Housing in Suburban Philadelphia

Today we welcome a guest post from James Wolfinger, author of Philadelphia Divided: Race and Politics in the City of Brotherly Love. Here, Wolfinger sheds light on the rocky beginnings of the Levittown in Bucks County outside of Philadelphia, which was fraught with racial tension and forced segregation by Bill Levitt himself, even years after its 1951 opening. But seven… Continue Reading James Wolfinger: A Tale of Two Levittowns: Race and Housing in Suburban Philadelphia

Everything You Need for an African American History Month Reading List

As you probably know, February is African American History Month, when we celebrate the countless contributions of African Americans to our country and recognize the struggles of generations past and present.  Titles that treat the many facets of African American culture and history have always been one of the strongest and most important components of UNC Press’s list.  Here are… Continue Reading Everything You Need for an African American History Month Reading List

Great news: Funding renewed for Publishing the Long Civil Rights Movement

We recently learned the great news that the LCRM Project has received funding from the Mellon Foundation for the next phase of its work. Here is the full press release. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL February 10, 2011—The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced today that The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a grant of $500,000… Continue Reading Great news: Funding renewed for Publishing the Long Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Memory: Haley Barbour and the New ‘Lost Cause’

Just before our holiday hiatus we were following the story of Mississippi governor Haley Barbour’s comments to the Weekly Standard about how smoothly the desegregation of schools went in his hometown of Yazoo City. It was his defense of the role of the white Citizens’ Councils (which he later recanted) that prompted a lot of backlash. I was happy to… Continue Reading Civil Rights Memory: Haley Barbour and the New ‘Lost Cause’

Philip Rubio hits the airwaves to talk snail mail and the effects of postal cuts on African American postal workers

The U.S. Postal Service faces an $8.5 million budget shortfall this year. NPR is broadcasting a series of stories about cuts in postal services and facilities and the lives and communities already being affected. One person with great insight into the social history of the USPS is Philip Rubio, author of There’s Always Work at the Post Office: African American… Continue Reading Philip Rubio hits the airwaves to talk snail mail and the effects of postal cuts on African American postal workers

Marc Stein: Justice Kennedy and the Future of Same-Sex Marriage

We welcome a guest post from Marc Stein, author of Sexual Injustice: Supreme Court Decisions from Griswold to Roe.  Beyond examining liberal rulings that deal with birth control, abortion, interracial marriage, and obscenity, Sexual Injustice also offers an in-depth account of the profoundly conservative ruling on homosexuality in Boutilier. In a guest post last month, he traced gay rights legal… Continue Reading Marc Stein: Justice Kennedy and the Future of Same-Sex Marriage

Let the Month of Murray Begin

A couple years ago some colorful and inspiring murals started popping up in Durham, NC, where I live. On Foster Street, down by the YMCA and the Farmers’ Market. On Chapel Hill Street, on the side of the Durham Food Co-op building. Three more within a stone’s throw of each other on Chapel Hill Road, along the exterior walls of… Continue Reading Let the Month of Murray Begin

Hannah Gill: Immigrant Youth and the High Stakes of Higher Education

As we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, we welcome a guest post from Hannah Gill, author of The Latino Migrant Experience in North Carolina: New Roots in the Old North State. In the book, Gill offers North Carolinians from all walks of life a better understanding of their Latino neighbors, bringing light instead of heat to local and national debates… Continue Reading Hannah Gill: Immigrant Youth and the High Stakes of Higher Education

Gay Rights and the Supreme Court: The Early Years

As the Supreme Court opens its 2010-2011 session today, we welcome a guest post from Marc Stein, author of Sexual Injustice: Supreme Court Decisions from Griswold to Roe. Focusing on six major Supreme Court cases, Sexual Injustice examines the more liberal rulings on birth control, abortion, interracial marriage, and obscenity in Griswold, Fanny Hill, Loving, Eisenstadt, and Roe alongside a… Continue Reading Gay Rights and the Supreme Court: The Early Years