The African Diaspora Student Association at UC Merced will present a two-part lecture series on race, culture and history in April.
The series — entitled “Where Do We Go From Here?” — will begin April 7 with a talk by professor and author James Loewen. Loewen’s talk, “The Most Important Era in U.S. History That You Never Heard Of, and Why It’s Still Important Today,” will be from 6 to 8 p.m. on campus in the Crescent Arch conference room.
Loewen spent two years at the Smithsonian Institute, surveying 12 leading high school textbooks of American history. He published his findings in “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong.” He also wrote “Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism,” which
documents the histories of towns where African-Americans, Jews and others were forced to leave before sundown in order to avoid violence perpetrated by the white majority.
The series concludes April 21 with a talk by Georgia State University Professor Akinyele Umoja.
An accomplished researcher and social activist in the areas of race and inequality, Umoja teaches courses on the history of the civil rights and black power movements and other social movements.
“We are at a time in United States history when race relations seem to be in need of an uplifting,” said Kim McMillon, president of the African Diaspora Student Association. “Programs of this nature provide a forum for important discussions on race and representation.”
For information, email kmcmillon@ucmerced.edu.
