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College of Arts & Sciences
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Next week, we continue our bi-weekly College Conversations: Allyship & Antiracism series, which features faculty members in the College
of Arts and Sciences whose research focuses on identifying racism, how to become an effective antiracist, and other topics related to allyship and antiracism.
Thursday, July 30
5:30 PM via Zoom
Embattled Names, Racialized Memories, and Wounded Places
As of late we have seen growing calls from activists and communities to remove the names of racist historical figures from the names
of streets, parks, schools, university campus buildings, and other spaces. Often lost on many members of the public, especially opponents to these changes, is the larger historical relationship between these valorized names and the physical, structural, and
symbolic violence of white supremacy—realized both in the past and the present.
To put these ongoing struggles in context, Professor Derek Alderman will discuss the power of commemorative place names and the complex
role they play in the memory-work of antiracism and the politics of planning more socially just landscapes. Gregg Suzanne Ferguson, a guest scholar-activist, will describe her own efforts to rename a Stonewall Jackson Middle School and the results of her dissertation,
which documented the harmful, wounding effects of white supremacist and Confederate names on students and teachers of color.
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Registration is required in advance. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the Zoom link and password.
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Derek Alderman
is professor and interim head in the UT Department of Geography. His research interests are cultural and historical geography with a specific focus on public memory, race, heritage tourism, social/spatial justice, and politics of geographic mobility and travel–all
with the goal of advancing our understanding of the American South (southeastern United States). Much of his work focuses on the histories, memory-work, commemorative activism, and place-making efforts of African Americans as they assert and claim civil rights,
their right to belong with public spaces, and the power to remember the past and shape the American landscape on their own terms. In particular, his interests focus on critical place name studies and using cultural struggles over the naming and renaming of
streets, schools, parks, and other public spaces as important lens for understanding the unresolved place of race, memory, and identity in America.
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Gregg Suzanne
Ferguson is the daughter of West Virginia Human Rights Commission Judge, the late Gail M. Ferguson, and community activist and educator, Warne L. Ferguson. She is a mother, fiancé, sister and friend to people who serve their communities
with an unwavering dedication to issues of equity and social justice. Ferguson is currently an adjunct for the psychology department of West Virginia State University and is a member of Marshall University’s Activists’ Archives. As founder and executive director
of Mothers of Diversity America, she has steered the organization to provide resources for struggling families and students and to combat discrimination in education, criminal and environmental justice on a local and national level through advocacy and public
awareness campaigns. Ferguson’s BA in the history of art and architecture is from Harvard University, and her MA in school counseling and EdD in leadership studies are from Marshall University.
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