News and Events

In 1951, the Civil Rights Congress (a congregation of civil rights organizations) developed and delivered a petition to the United Nations entitled “We Charge Genocide: The Historic Petition to the United Nations for Relief From a Crime of The United States Government Against the Negro People.” Nearly a century after the US Civil War ended and amendments promised the citizenship rights for newly freed Black Americans, it was clear that this had not happened.

This talk engages with this document and the historical context around it: how and why did violence and terror continue to impact African American life in the 20th century? More importantly, how did they resist and respond? These historic and current issues will be explored as part of the "Deeply Rooted and Rising High" exhibit currently available at the History Center.

Courtney Pierre Joseph is an Associate Professor of History and African American Studies at Lake Forest College, specializing in African American history and culture, Haiti and its diaspora, women and gender studies, and Hip Hop culture. Dr. Joseph is currently working on her first book, titled "Invisibly Visible: A Community History of Haitians in Chicago." Dr. Joseph also served as the Faculty Consultant for the History Center's current exhibition, "Deeply Rooted & Rising High: African American Experiences in Lake Forest."

RL Watson is Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies at Lake Forest College, specializing in African American literature (18th-21st century), college writing, and creative writing. Dr. Watson is currently honing a book manuscript tentatively titled “Dark Masks: The Representational Lives of Black Americans.” Dr. Watson is also the co-curator and contributing co-editor of “Unnamed Figures: Black Presence & Absence in the Early American North,” a show and supporting publication for the American Folk Art Museum.