Centenary welcomes North Louisiana native and noted historian for lecture celebrating Black History Month
SHREVEPORT, LA — Dr. Karlos K. Hill, a native of Bastrop, Louisiana, and a graduate of the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts (LSMSA) in Natchitoches, Louisiana, will visit Centenary on Thursday, February 6, as part of the College’s Black History Month programming. Hill will visit several classes during the day for discussions with students and faculty and will deliver a public lecture, “The Importance of Black History Month,” at 7:00 p.m. in Anderson Auditorium at Centenary’s Hurley School of Music. The lecture is free and open to the public.
“As a member of the College’s Diversity Committee, I look forward to Dr. Hill being at Centenary,” says Kaylan Walker, director of community engagement. “His academic scholarship in African and African American Studies, his advocacy of social justice, and his commentary on issues of race and equality offer those inside and outside the Centenary community an opportunity to engage in dialogue regarding the importance of Black History Month.”
Hill received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently an associate professor of African and African American Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He is also the founding director of the African and African American Studies Distinguished Lecture Series at the university and is a frequent commentator on issues of race, equity, and social justice. Hill is the host of a weekly podcast, Tapestry: A Conversation about Race and Culture, that has a global following.
Hill specializes in the history of lynching and the anti-lynching movement in America, and his research explores how black Americans have resisted racial violence and how this resistance has changed over time. His book Beyond the Rope: The Impact of Lynching on Black Culture and Memory, published by Cambridge University Press in July 2016, draws on narrative theory and cultural studies methodologies to show how African American attitudes toward lynching and lynching victims evolved in response to changing social and political contexts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
A portion of Hill’s visit to Centenary is generously underwritten by the Attaway Professorships in Civic Culture program at the College.