Authors from UT Austin’s College of Liberal Arts describe their books and what they hope readers will learn.
African and African Diaspora Studies
What is Juneteenth?
Although Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, the date the holiday observes, June 19, 1865, came more than two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, when Texas finally received word that slavery had ended. It may come as a surprise, but President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not effectively free […]
Riveted: LaToya Ruby Frazier Exhibition Challenges Representational and Environmental Racism
LaToya Ruby Frazier, Huxtables, Mom and Me, 2009, from The Notion of Family. Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein, Paris/Brussels Award-winning artist LaToya Ruby Frazier’s exhibition, “Riveted,” will be on view from Nov. 7 through Dec. 6 at the Visual Arts Center at UT Austin. Frazier’s work documents the effects of economic and environmental […]
Imagining a More Equitable World for Africa’s Gay Community
In most African countries, being gay means living in constant fear. For example, an anti-homosexuality bill recently signed by Uganda President Yoweri Museveni calls for 14 years in prison for first time offenders and life in prison for repeat offenders. Even those who don’t report gay friends and loved ones are considered to be breaking […]
Help Wanted
Policy report shows minimum wage lifts women out of poverty, boosts consumer spending In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama made a bold claim: “Tonight, let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to […]
A Major Step Forward
New department focuses on African experience A brand new academic department will focus on the experiences of African Americans, indigenous Africans and people of African descent around the world and, ultimately, will be the only Black Studies department in the South or Southwest that offers Ph.D.s. The Department of African and African Diaspora Studies was […]