The African American Irish Diaspora Network and Glucksman Ireland House NYU is featuring four writers as part of its fall Black, Brown and Green Voices series.
Among the featured writers is bestselling author Denis Lehane.
The series is presented in partnership with NYU’s Office of Global Inclusion and the John Brademas Center and NYPL Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Additional support comes from the Irish government’s Emigrant Support Program.
The speakers are historians Iver Bernstein (Washington University) and Leslie M. Harris
(Northwestern University), award-winning journalist Rachel L. Swarns (New York University), and
Dennis Lehane.
The series opened on September 22 and will close in December, with events focused on the 1863 New York Draft Riots.
Professor Bernstein, stated the release, penned the leading study of the events of July 1863, "The New York City Draft Riots: Their Significance for American Society and Politics in the Age of the Civil War" (Oxford University Press, 1990). Bernstein is Professor of History, African and African-American Studies, and American Culture Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, where his scholarship is focused on
slavery, race and political culture.
The October 20 program will feature Dennis Lehane, who will discuss his latest highly-praised novel,
"Small Mercies," which is set against Boston’s 1974 tumult around the desegregation of public schools.
Lehane has published fourteen novels which have been translated into more than 30 languages and have
become international bestsellers. He was also a writer on the acclaimed HBO series, "The Wire.'
On Wednesday, November 1, Rachel L. Swarns will discuss her groundbreaking new book "The 272: The
Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church" (Random House, 2023).
Added the release: "In a compelling narrative Swarns tells the story of the Black families at the heart of early Catholic America. She is a journalism professor at NYU and a contributing writer for The New York Times.
"On December 12 Professor Leslie M. Harris, author of another monumental study, "In the Shadow of
Slavery: African Americans in New York City" (University of Chicago Press, 2003) will discuss the flight
of African Americans from the city, especially in the aftermath of the violence of 1863. Harris is Professor
of History and African American Studies at Northwestern University. A specialist in Pre-Civil War
African American history, she has authored or co-edited five books.
"Introductions to the programs will be provided by NYU’s Kimberly DaCosta, author of "Making
Multiracials: State, Family, and Market in the Redrawing of the Color Line" (Stanford University Press,
2007).
To register go to https://as.nyu.edu/research-centers/irelandhouse/events.html. The Professor Iver Bernstein talk can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/@GIHNYU/videos.
