Global Perspective on the Black Freedom Struggle

In recent years, civil rights historians have challenged the traditional narrative that separated the history of black Americans from the rest of world and depicted the so-called "race question" in the United States as a purely domestic problem.

In his lecture Manfred Berg will take a critical look at the new transnational and global history of the black freedom struggle probing its achievements and limits. Moreover, Berg will consider the impact of global affairs on the African American civil rights movement.

About:

Manfred Berg is the Curt Engelhorn Professor of American History at the University of Heidelberg and a specialist in the history of the African American civil rights movement. His book The Ticket to Freedom: The NAACP and the Struggle for Black Political Integration was published in 2005 by the University Press of Florida.

In 2006 Manfred Berg received the David Thelen Award of the Organization of American Historians for his essay "Civil Rights and Liberal Anticommunism: The NAACP during the Early Cold War," which was subsequently published in the Journal of American History. Professor Berg has published thirteen monographs and edited volumes, including his new book Popular Justice: A History of Lynching in America (Chicago: Ivan Dee, 2011).

Before he was appointed professor of American History at Heidelberg, he taught at the Free University of Berlin and was a research fellow (1992-1997) at the German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C., among other positions. In 2009 he served as the Lewis P. Jones Professor of History at Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina.