ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – The 19th annual Dorothy Perry Thompson Colloquium on African American Studies and the African American Experience is set for Feb. 25 with historian and author Dr. Brandon K. Winford.
This free event is co-sponsored by Winthrop University’s African American Studies Program, the Department of History and the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies.
Winford, an associate professor at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, will present his lecture “A Dangerous Age: John Hervey Wheeler and the Search for Freedom of Movement.” The presentation will begin at 11 a.m. via Zoom. Register in advance here. It is a cultural event.
John Hervey Wheeler was a businessman, lawyer, political activist and civil rights activist from Bronx, North Carolina. Among his many accomplishments, he:
*Became the first to challenge segregated schooling in North Carolina public schools;
*Served on former President John F. Kennedy’s President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (1961);
*Established the North Carolina Fund to address poverty issues (1963); and
*Served as North Carolina’s first African-American delegate to a Democratic national convention (1964).
Last year, Winford published a book on Wheeler in which he examines how black businesses and civil rights history help explain how economic concerns shaped the goals and objectives of the black freedom struggle.
Winford holds a master’s in history from North Carolina Central University and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.
The annual colloquium honors the late English Professor Dorothy Perry Thompson, the founder of Winthrop’s African American Studies program. The colloquium also offers the opportunity to "bring in nationally- and internationally-renowned writers and scholars to talk about different aspects of the African American experience."
For more information on Winthrop’s African American Studies program and the colloquium, visit the website.
