Dear Geography Students:

The lecture discussed below that might of great interest to some of you.  It is a well-organized event and the History Department have been good partners with us on a number of initiatives.

Best wishes,

DA

 

 

 

Dear Derek,

Happy New Year! I hope things are getting off to a great start for you. I wanted to send out this email ahead of the spring 2017 semester to share some information about the 2nd Annual Fleming-Morrow Distinguished Lecture in African-American History. Again, the Department of History has partnered with the Center for the Study of War and Society to put on the event. We are also excited to have the Department of Geography as one of the co-sponsors as well. Dr. Chad L. Williams, Associate Professor and Chair of the African and Afro-American Studies Department at Brandeis University will deliver the lecture, "Torchbearers of Democracy: The History and Legacy of African American Soldiers in World War I." It will take place Thursday, February 23, 2017, 5:30-7:00p.m., Room 210, in the Alumni Memorial Building. Please encourage your students to attend, as it will benefit their continued intellectual growth as critical thinkers. Once we have our publicity materials, we will send them along to help you advertise it to your students. 

The lecture will highlight the role of black soldiers to commemorate the centennial of U.S. entry into the conflict. World War I was a transformative moment in African American history. Over 380,000 African American soldiers fought and labored in the United States army during the war. On and off the battlefield, at home and abroad, black soldiers left a legacy of individual and collective courage and struggle that continues to this very day. In our current moment of political and racial upheaval, the history of black soldiers and veterans reminds us how African Americans have and continue to fight to make democracy not just an ideal, but also a lived reality.

Williams specializes in African American and modern United States history, African American military history, the World War I era, and African American intellectual history. The University of North Carolina Press published his first book, Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era, in 2010. Torchbearers of Democracy won the 2011 Liberty Legacy Foundation Award from the Organization of American Historians and the 2011 Distinguished Book Award from the Society for Military History. He is also a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians and is currently completing a study of W. E. B. Du Bois and World War I.