U of I professor discusses history of Black people in Midwest and the Garvey movement in award-winning book
Christine Hatfield/Illinois Public Media and Courtesy of Duke University Press
A century ago, the activist Marcus Garvey was working to unite Black people around the world — creating a nationalist movement that would oppose colonialism in Africa and invite people of African descent to self-rule in their homeland.One of the places Garvey’s ideas found significant purchase was in the American Midwest and that’s the subject of a new book by University of Illinois professor Erik McDuffie. It’s called “The Second Battle for Africa.”
Last week, the Midwestern History Association awarded McDuffie the Jon Gjerde Prize for “the best book in Midwestern history” published last year. He joins the program today.
GUEST
Erik S. McDuffie
Author, The Second Battle for Africa: Garveyism, the U.S. Heartland, and Global Black Freedom
Associate Professor, History and African American Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign