27 April 2023
Emeritus Professor of 20th c. US History Neil Wynn pays tribute after the singer and activist’s death this week. “There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, there’s a hole in my bucket …” So began…
2 June 2020
For American historians, and particularly those who focus on African American history and civil rights, the feelings felt in the last six days are a mixture of sorrow, anger, .. and also déjà vu. How often in the…
17 November 2016
This review was written by 2nd year undergraduate student Jenna M. Pateman. As November begins, I felt it was right to look back at this year’s Black History Month in Cheltenham, a yearly event put together by a number…
13 September 2016
Writing a preview of the Cheltenham Literature Festival, I suggested all History students should read literature. I was reminded of this today when I read the (belated – he died in June) obituary of Michael Herr in The…
13 June 2016
Having just been to see Race, the (rather boring, I have to say) bio-pic about the great African American athlete, Jesse Owens, I found myself thinking about people like Owens, and Joe Louis, and contrasting them with Muhammad…
9 June 2016
This Friday will witness the funeral of Muhammad Ali, the greatest boxer in history and a figure whose importance transcended sport. Hundreds will attend his funeral and many thousands more around the world will mourn his passing because…
16 February 2016
Last Saturday, while on my four month stay in the USA, I took the opportunity to visit the nearby International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina. This museum is in the Woolworth building, which holds a special…
17 December 2015
I’m delighted to be able to come to Gloucestershire next semester, where I’ll be teaching two courses, ‘The Quest for Equality: Civil Rights in the USA, 1930-70’ and ‘Democracy, Freedom and Slavery: the USA, 1776-1865’, as well as…
4 December 2015
The commemorations this week of the arrest of Mrs Rosa Parks on 1st December 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, remind us that historians often seem to be obsessed with remembering “great” people or “key” moments in History. For many…
1 July 2015
Following the tragic events in Charleston, South Carolina, it is difficult to disagree with President Obama’s moving and powerful obituary at the funeral for one of the victims, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, that it was time to take…