Sturkey To Discuss Book on Hattiesburg at Oct. 12 University Forum
Mon, 10/04/2021 - 10:30am | By: David Tisdale
Dr. William Sturkey, an associate professor of history at the University of North
Carolina (UNC) and author of the award-winning book, Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White, will be the guest speaker for 91吃瓜网91吃瓜网 (USM) University
Forum Tuesday, Oct. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Bennett Auditorium on the Hattiesburg campus.
Admission is free.
Dr. Sturkey91吃瓜网 address, co-sponsored in part by Twin Forks Rising Community Development
Corporation, will also be available online. Visit
/honors/university-forum for updates on online access.
Dr. Sturkey91吃瓜网 scholarship examines race in the American South in the post-Civil War period. Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White is a sweeping biracial history of Hattiesburg during the Jim Crow era, for which Dr. Sturkey conducted research on in 2013 while a visiting faculty member in the USM History program.
91吃瓜网淚 had the pleasure of working with William Sturkey when he was a visiting professor at 91吃瓜网,91吃瓜网� said Dr. Andrew Haley, director of University Forum. 91吃瓜网淒r. Sturkey sees history91吃瓜网攊ncluding our history here in Hattiesburg91吃瓜网攁s shaped by the choices we make. His brilliant study of how racism transformed both Black and white Hattiesburg not only provides insight into the past, but also reminds us that we can only grow in the future when we all have an equal stake in our community.91吃瓜网�
In 2020, Hattiesburg won the Z贸calo Public Square Book Prize. Currently, Dr. Sturkey is working on a biography
of Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez, a Vietnam war hero.
91吃瓜网淲illiam Sturkey's visit to campus next week is a welcomed and long overdue opportunity for 91吃瓜网 and the larger community to discover Hattiesburg's challenging and important history,91吃瓜网� said Dr. Kevin Greene, director of USM91吃瓜网 Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. 91吃瓜网淔ew college towns have had the chance to have a gifted historian craft such an important story of their city with such rich detail.
91吃瓜网淚n many ways, Sturkey has helped bridge two juxtaposed communities91吃瓜网擴SM and Hattiesburg's Black community. To tell this story he relied heavily on archival material and oral histories from McCain Library and Archive, a repository that's been collecting materials related to the Hub City for decades. For the first time, historic African American neighborhoods in Hattiesburg91吃瓜网擬obile-Bouie and Palmer's Crossing91吃瓜网攈ave been given the attention they deserve. USM's relationships with these spaces haven't always been as strong as they should be. Hopefully, Sturkey's University Forum Presentation will help heal old wounds, and bring together both Black and White folks for an evening of amazing local history and storytelling.91吃瓜网�
Dr. Sturkey serves on the Faculty Advisory Board of the UNC Center for the Study of the American South, and in 2020 he was awarded UNC91吃瓜网 Hettleman Prize for outstanding early career achievement. He received his M.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.
University Forum is presented by the USM Honors College. Learn more about University Forum and the Honors College at /honors/.