UofM's Hooks Institute to Host Pulitzer Prize Winner Marcia Chatelain for National Book Award Lecture
Jan. 31, 2022 — The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis will host Marcia Chatelain, winner of the 2020 Hooks National Book Award for her work “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America,” on Tuesday, Feb. 8, at 6 p.m. The event will be livestreamed on the Hooks Institute's Facebook page.
“Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America” investigates the untold history of the cooperation among fast-food companies, politicians, civil rights leaders and black entrepreneurs in the years following the 1960s civil rights movement. This untold history looks at how the prevalence of fast-food restaurants in Black communities today resulted from a push by these groups for what they saw as an economical solution to racial disparities in America’s Black communities — the franchising of fast-food restaurants in black neighborhoods by Black people. The book illuminates the power of Black-owned franchises in a larger freedom struggle while also explaining how corporations, such as McDonald's, have deprived genuine wealth in Black urban communities.
This event is co-sponsored by the following University of Memphis partners: African and African American Studies Program, Department of English, Department of History and the Marcus Orr Center for the Humanities.
While this event is free and open to the public, attendees are encouraged to RSVP here.
About Marcia Chatelain
Marcia Chatelain is a history and African American studies professor at Georgetown University. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for History for her book “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America” in 2021. She is also the Ferguson Syllabus social media campaign creator and the author of “South Side Girls: Growing up in the Great Migration.”
About the Hooks National Book Award
The Hooks Institute presents its National Book Award to a non-fiction book published in the calendar year that best furthers understanding of the American civil rights movement and its legacy.
The Hooks Institute extends its gratitude to the 2020 Hooks National Book Award committee
The 2020 Hooks National Book Award Committee includes Aram Goudsouzian, Book Award Chair, UofM Bizot Family Professor of History at the University of Memphis; Beverly Cross, Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence in Urban Education at the UofM; Charles McKinney, associate professor of History at Rhodes College; Ladrica Menson-Furr, UofM associate professor of English and director of African and African American Studies; Sharon Stanley, UofM professor of Political Science; and Terrence Tucker, UofM chair of Department of English and coordinator of African American Literature. For more information, visit memphis.edu/benhooks/programs/book-award.php.
About the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change
The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute implements its mission of teaching, studying and promoting civil rights and social change through research, education and direct intervention programs. Institute programs include community outreach; funding faculty research initiatives on community issues; implementing community service projects; hosting conferences, symposiums and lectures; and promoting local and national scholarship on civil and human rights. The Hooks Institute is an interdisciplinary center at the University of Memphis. Contributed revenue for the Hooks Institute, including funding from individuals, corporations and foundations, is administered through the University of Memphis Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization.
CONTACT
Nathaniel Ball | 901.678.3655 | ncball@memphis.edu