UH Experts Available to Discuss Black History Month

In recognition of Black History Month experts at the University of Houston (UH) are available to discuss a range of topics from African-American health to the history of the civil rights. If you are unable to reach a professor, please call 713-743-8153.

AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND SPORT

Demetrius Pearson is an associate professor in the department of health and human performance. His research focuses on African-American involvement in sport, including North American rodeo, as well as their depiction in contemporary sport films. He maintains a repository listing of American sport films from 1930 to 2012. His area of expertise focuses on professional sport and fitness administration, as well as the sociocultural and historical aspects of organized sport. Reach him at 713-743-9849 or dpearson@uh.edu

AFRICAN-AMERICAN HEALTH

Janis F. Hutchinson, professor of anthropology, is a scholar of minority health issues who specializes in African-American health. As a medical anthropologist, her research interests include condom use, HIV/AIDS, racism and health, and health issues among people of color. She is currently examining family talk about hypertension and diabetes among Hispanics and African-Americans in Houston. Hutchinson can be reached at jhutchinson@uh.edu

AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERARY ACTIVISM

Cedric Tolliver is an assistant professor of English, who teaches courses in modern African-American literature, culture and literary theory. His research investigates how African-American writers and intellectuals negotiated their increased visibility within the boundaries of the early Cold War from 1947 to 1961. Writers from this period are critically important because they both participated in the burgeoning civil rights movement and reflected upon the meaning of the inclusion of African-Americans for American culture and democracy. Tolliver may be reached at 713-743-1407 or ctolliver@uh.edu  

AFRICAN-AMERICAN MENTAL HEALTH & SUICIDE

Rheeda Walker, associate professor in the department of psychology and director of the Culture, Risk, and Resilience Lab, is a licensed clinical psychologist whose research focuses on suicide and African-American adult mental health. Her goal is to dispel the long-standing myth that African-Americans don’t commit suicide and broaden the picture of depression specifically to show what depression looks like in African-American culture. Reach her at 713-743-6696 or rlwo@uh.edu

AFRICAN HISTORY/ AFRICAN OIL

Kairn A. Klieman, associate professor of history, is a specialist on both pre-colonial African history and the history of the international oil industry in Africa. Her interest in Africa began through service in the Peace Corps (Democratic Republic of Congo, 1984-86). Her first book, “The Pygmies Were our Compass: Bantu and Batwa in the History of West Central Africa, 3000 B.C. to 1800 C.E.,” reconstructed the history of Batwa hunter-gatherers and their agriculturalist Bantu-speaking neighbors. Due to living in Houston, the global capital of the oil industry, Klieman shifted her research focus to the role of international oil companies in African history during the 20th century. She is currently working on a book entitled, “Before the Curse: Politics, Petroleum, and International Oil Companies in the Gulf of Guinea, Africa, 1890s-1980s.” Klieman can be reached at (713) 743-3106 or kklieman@uh.edu 

BLACK AMERICA AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Gerald Horne holds the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of History and African American Studies. His research has addressed issues of racism in a variety of relations involving labor, politics, civil rights, international relations and war. Horne is the author of more than 30 books and 100 scholarly articles and reviews. His current research focuses on a variety of topics, such as the ties between black America and Cuba. Horne may be reached at ghorne@uh.edu

BLACK LITERATURE

W. Lawrence Hogue, the John and Rebecca Moores Distinguished Professor of English, in his research and teaching, addresses issues of postmodernism, race and identity.  Hogue is the author of a half dozen critical books and has reviews, book chapters and articles published in major literary journals and critical anthologies.  He has a forthcoming book, “Postmodernism, Traditional Cultural Forms and African American Narratives,” which focuses on how contemporary African-American writers use cultural forms, such as the blues and jazz, to reconfigure African-American subjectivities.  He can be reached at 713-743-2950 or at whogue@uh.edu

BLACK WOMEN IN AMERICA  

Linda Reed, associate professor of history, is a noted scholar in African-American history with a particular interest in women and the South. She served for nine years as the director of the UH African American Studies Program. Between 2001 and 2003, Reed was the national director of the Association for Black Women Historians. Her works include an award-winning book concentrating on the forgotten years of the civil rights, “Simple Decency and Common Sense: The Southern Conference Movement, 1938 – 1963.”  She is currently completing a book on Fannie Lou Hamer, tentatively entitled, “I’m Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired: The Life and Times of Fannie Lou Hamer.” Hamer became the influential Mississippi civil rights activist, whose oratory skills are comparable to those of Martin Luther King, Jr. Reach her at 713-743-3092 or lreed@uh.edu

Courtney L. Thompson, visiting scholar in African American Studies, is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work focuses on political discourse in black women’s writings. In 2011, she earned her Ph.D. in American studies with an area of concentration in literature from Purdue University. In her dissertation," Capturing Democracy: Black Women Activists and the Struggle for Equal Rights, 1920s-1970s,” she investigates the relationship between black women’s activism and democratic reform in the U.S. This study represents the core of her book manuscript, tentatively titled “We Are Fighting for Democracy: Black Women Activists and the Pursuit of All Things Equal, 1920s-Present,” and reflects her broader research interests in the African-American literary tradition, American political discourse, progressive movements and black feminist theory.  Thompson can be reached via email at clthompson@uh.edu or (713) 743-0400.

Imani Masters Goffney, assistant professor of mathematics education in the department of curriculum and instruction, UH College of Education, teaches mathematics methods courses for elementary and middle school teachers and graduate courses focusing on issues of equity, social justice and diversity in mathematics education. Her current research investigates the role that particular teaching practices have on providing access to culturally and linguistically diverse students as a strategy for addressing the gaps in achievement, especially in mathematics performance. Reach her at 713-743-2572 or idgoffney@uh.edu

Jean Kantambu Latting, professor emeritus of leadership and change at the UH Graduate College of Social Work, co-authored the book, “Reframing Change: How to Deal with Workplace Dynamics, Influences Others, and Bring People Together to Initiate Positive Change.” Her research, teaching and consulting work addresses the challenges leaders face in trying to leverage the benefits of diversity to achieve common goals. “Dr. King celebrated diversity by referring to ‘black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics joining hands.’ My work is not about ignoring differences, but how to leverage differences so they serve as a source of strength rather than conflict and divisiveness.” Reach her at 713-899-5560 or jlatting@uh.edu

Laveria F. Hutchison is an associate professor and chair of the department of curriculum and instruction in the UH College of Education. She teaches literacy education courses that focus on developing skills to enhance critical thinking for middle and secondary level learners. Her work includes the design of instructional practices for English language learners. In addition, she conducts research that responds to the critical shortage of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-education teachers. Her STEM-education research and projects have led to invitations to address the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus, an audience of National Science Foundation researchers and various professional conferences. Reach her at 713-743-4950 or lhutchison@uh.edu

Nancy Beck Young, professor of history and chair of the department, is a scholar of modern American politics. Her research questions how political institutions have shaped the lives of average people through public policy. Much of her work involves the study of Congress, the presidency and first ladies.  She has researched the white, southern politics of prejudice during World War II. She helps explain why there was no significant civil rights reform legislation until the 1960s. Reach her at nyoung@central.uh.edu

Tyrone Tillery, associate professor in the department of history, is a scholar of U.S. history who specializes in African-American and civil rights history. Tillery has been the executive director of the NAACP, Detroit branch, and is currently researching the history of race and intergroup relations in Detroit from 1943 to 1968. Tillery’s book, “Claude McKay: A Black Poet’s Struggle for Identity,” received a book of note from the New York Times. Tillery can be reached at (713) 743-3097 or ttillery@mail.uh.edu

Tatch Mindiola is associate professor of sociology and director of the Center for Mexican American Studies. His research, publications and teaching areas are in race relations.  Mindiola’s current research deals with the relationship between Mexicans and African-Americans. Reach him at 713-743-3134 or tmindiola@uh.edu

Captain Paul Matthew, founder and board chair of the Buffalo Soldiers Museum, an organization dedicated to educating, preserving and promoting the history, tradition and contributions of America’s Buffalo Soldiers and the African-American military experience, will present a lecture titled, “Inside the Buffalo,” followed by a re-enactment and viewing of a movie by the same name, at the University of Houston. The lecture is from noon – 1:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 8 followed by a reception at the Rockwell Pavilion, M.D. Anderson Library, 2^nd Floor. The movie, “Inside the Buffalo,” begins at 2:30 p.m. in the same location. For more information, call 713-743-2811or visit http://www.uh.edu/class/aas/news/index.php

African American Studies, a distinct academic discipline that engages Africa-centered research and teaching through an interdisciplinary approach, UH CLASS, will host a series of events Feb. 1 through Feb. 27. For more information, call 713-743-2811 or visit http://www.uh.edu/class/aas/news/index.php