MSU African American and African Studies
Marking and Assessing the Long Black Freedom Struggle
Speaker Series Fall 2014
The 1954 Supreme Court decision, known as Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, mark the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. Our 2014 speaker series will deviate slightly from this standard narrative of civil rights which tend to present a linear view of the movement using Martin Luther King and other national male leaders as the defining figures of a short fifty to sixty year period. We reconnect ‘60/50’ years to the longer 100 years civil rights struggle with the long Black Freedom Struggle that dates back to the Emancipation Declaration of 1863. For us, 2014 marks the celebrations and the academic reflections of the 150 year plus movement. We are interested in questions that consider how far we have come with civil rights to date, what are the alternative and self-defining narratives on civil rights, and what are the range of disciplinary perspectives and issues that inform the civil rights dialogue.
September 26, 2014
Mandy Carter
Creator/Co-Creator of SONG (Southerners on New Ground) and NBJC (National Black Justice Coalition)
Contemporary Civil Rights and Black Queer
Brody Complex, Room 134
November 14, 2014
Dr. Francis Njubi Nesbitt
Associate Professor, Africana Studies: San Diego State University
Civil Rights Solidarities: African Americans and South African Blacks
International Center, Room 115
October 10, 2014
Dr. Deborah Willis
Director of Photography/Professor:
Tisch School of the Arts at New York University
Historicizing and Representing Civil Rights through Visual Arts
International Center, Room 115
December 5, 2014
Dr. Fobanjong
Professor of Political Science and African American Studies: University of Massachusetts
Comparative Civil Rights and Brazil
International Center, Room 115