Combating Injustice: A Public Dialogue With Yohuru Williams

This spring, the Rhode Island Historical Society, in collaboration with the Roots Cultural Center, the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, the Newport Historical Society, the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage, and the Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice at Brown University, continues a series of talks that mark the 100th anniversary of the beginning of WWI, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

These talks highlight the crucial role that people of color have played in the creation and defense of local, national and international democracy.

The final talk of the series, “Rethinking the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement” will be given by Prof. Yohuru Williams on Thursday, 4/16, 6:30 p.m. at the Aldrich House, 110 Benevolent Street, Providence.

In the age of “Obama” and “#Black Lives Matter,” the history and legacy of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements speak powerfully to the issues of today. In this engaging lecture, Fairfield University Professor Yohuru Williams provides an overview of new exciting scholarship on the movement and how it connects to the contemporary moment.

We encourage attendees to bring to the event photographs and mementos of family members from the 20th century to be scanned into a digital archive on 20th-century African American Rhode Islanders. Following the talk, RIHS staff will be on hand to scan the items and offer advice on how best to care for these fragile materials that tell such important stories.

“Combating Injustice: A Public Dialogue” is made possible through major funding support from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, an independent state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Council seeds, supports, and strengthens public history, cultural heritage, civic education, and community engagement by and for all Rhode Islanders.

About Yohuru Williams:

Yohuru Williams is Professor of History and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Fairfield University. Dr. Williams received his Ph.D. from Howard University in 1998. Dr. Williams is the author of Black Politics/White Power: Civil Rights Black Power and Black Panthers in New Haven (Blackwell, 2006) and Teaching beyond the Textbook: Six Investigative Strategies (Corwin Press, 2008).Dr. Williams has held a variety of administrative posts both within and outside the university including serving as Vice President for Public Education and Research at the Jackie Robinson Foundation in New York City and until recently as the Chief Historian for the Jackie Robinson Foundation.