Writing the Black Freedom Struggle in the Midwest
Using his work on St. Louis, Missouri as a starting point, as well as incorporating narratives about Chicago and Detroit, Dr. Lang examines the importance of local narratives of black freedom struggle in the urban Midwest to our overall understanding of the post-World War II Civil Rights Movement. While taking issue with long-standing depictions of the movement as a southern phenomenon, this presentation also challenges the idea that North/South regional distinctions have no explanatory power in studies of postwar black social movements.
Clarence Lang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies and the Department of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his PhD in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Lang has been active in civic and public engagement activities, including numerous interviews with local and regional news outlets and speaking engagements.
