GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY HAS HOSTED AT SEVENTH ANNUAL MIDWESTERN HISTORY CONFERENCE AS CONFERENCE LEADERS PUT IT, THIS ANNUAL GATHERING STRIVES TO CULTIVATE RIGOROUS HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDING OF A COMPLEX DYNAMIC AND MISUNDERSTOOD REGION.

TODAY WE EXPLORE THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN LEGACY IN THE MIDWEST S MCDUFFIE DISCUSS THE BIG PI THE ROLE AFRICAN AMERICANS OF PLAYS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIDWEST IS ERIC S MCDUFFIE PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT FREEDOM BACK -- BLACK WOMEN AMERICAN COMMUNISM AND THEM MAKING A BLACK ( FEMINISM AND THE SECOND BOOK YOU'RE CURRENTLY WORKING ON GARVEY'S HIM IN THE DIASPORA CAN MIDWEST TO THE AMERICAN HEARTLAND AND GLOBAL BLACK FREEDOM.

THANK YOU FOR US APPEAR QUEUE OR THE CHAIR OF A DISCUSSION AT THE HOLLING STEIN CENTER AND I WILL READ A PORTION OF THE ABSTRACT BECAUSE IT DOES GET A LITTLE LONG AND WORDY HERE BUT I THINK THIS IS A GREAT WAY TO JUMP OFF INTO THE BIG PICTURE.

YOU EXPLORE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BLACK MIDWEST AS A KEY SITE OF STRUGGLE FOR BLACK LIBERATION, RACIAL JUSTICE, AND DEMOCRACY IN THE U.S. AND GLOBALLY.

THEN AND NOW GIVEN THAT THE MIDWEST SPAWNED A GLOBAL BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTESTS AND THAT WAS BACK IN THE SUMMER OF 2020 IN RESPONSE TO THE POLICE KILLING OF GEORGE FLOYD IN MINNEAPOLIS AND THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN MIDWESTERNERS WERE CRITICAL OF THE ELECTION OF PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN IN THE 2020 WAS TIMELY AND IMPORTANT THE HISTORY IS A UNIQUE INTERPLAY IN THE AMERICAN HEARTLAND AMONG HEAVY INDUSTRY GENDER SLAVERY ABOLITION MIGRATION WORLD WAR GLOBAL DEPRESSION WHITE SUPREMACY INDUSTRIALIZATION AND DEINDUSTRIALIZATION SETTLER COLONIALISM AND EMPIRE IN PRODUCING THE BLACK MIDWEST AS A SINGLE YET COMPLEX GEOGRAPHIC POLITICAL HISTORICAL AND DISCURSIVE FORMATION AND LINK UNITED STATES AFRICA THE BLACK DIASPORA AND THE WORLD.

THAT IS QUITE A BIT TO UNPACK.

AND YET I THINK WHAT IT SHOWS US IS THAT THERE IS NO BLACK-AND-WHITE.

THE DISCUSSIONS ARE IN THE GRAY AREA AND THAT IS WHERE WE FIND THE UNDERSTANDING AND THE HISTORY OF HOW WE HAVE COME TO BE IN THIS COUNTRY.

IS THAT A FAIR WAY IT?

>> GOING BACK TO WHAT YOU JUST READ THE PANEL OR RATHER THE PANEL AND MY RESEARCH FOCUSES ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MIDWEST AS A GERMINAL SITE OF BLACK PROTEST AND THE BLACK FREEDOM MOVEMENTS AND BOTH IN THE U.S. AND GLOBALLY.

AND I WOULD SAY THAT YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY AND YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THE HISTORY OF THE BLACK WORLD AND YOU CAN U.S. HISTORY WITH OUTSTANDING THE BRILLIANCE AND THE MIDWEST.

>> WE LIVE HERE AND DO FULLY UNDERSTAND ITS HISTORY?

I WOULD SAY WE DO NOT.

I HAVE SPENT TIME WATCHING YOUR DISCUSSION AND HAVE BEEN DOING SOME READING BEFORE WE HAD THIS DISCUSSION AND I FEEL IGNORANT TO A LOT OF THINGS IN THE MIDWEST AND UNDERSTANDING IT.

I DO KNOW A LOT BUT THERE IS SO MUCH THAT I DO NOT NOW AS A WHITE MALE.

IT IS FASCINATING WHAT BEEN READING.

YOU RESEARCH ALL OF THIS.

HOW DO YOU PUT IT IN CONTEXT FOR ALL OF US TO UNDERSTAND WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND BLACK HISTORY IN THE MIDWEST?

>> GREAT QUESTION.

I WILL START WITH THE BEGINNING OF YOUR QUESTION AND COMMENT AND YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY PERSON WHO, AS YOU SAID, FEELS THAT THEY ARE IGNORANT ABOUT THE HISTORY OF BLACK PEOPLE IN THE MIDWEST.

FIRST, IT'S IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND THE PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT HAVE BEEN IN THIS REGION THAT WE CALL THE MIDWEST SINCE THE 16th CENTURY.

THE IDEA THAT BLACK FOLKS RECENTLY ARRIVED BE IT DURING THE FIRST GREAT MIGRATION FROM 1915 TO 1930 AT THE SECOND GREAT MIGRATION FROM A 1942 TO 1970 BUT PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT HAVE BEEN IN THIS REGION FOR CENTURIES AND THAT IS CRITICAL TO HISTORY.

THE SECOND WAS THE PORT AREA OF BLACK HISTORY BESIDE THE SOUTH BUT WHAT MAKES THIS UNIQUE AND DISTINCT AS WHAT I CALL TO ILLINOIS IN CHICAGO AND DETROIT AND ST. LOUIS AND CLEVELAND AND IT WAS IN SEARCH OF A BETTER LIFE AND IN SEARCH OF A BETTER FUTURE AND IN SEARCH OF SEE THIS DYNAMIC GOING BACK 19th CENTURY.

OHIO WAS THE PROMISED LAND FOR FOUR ENSLAVED AFRICANS WHO FLED TO SAVE SAVORY AND THEN OF COURSE THE MIDWEST HAD POCKETS OF IT THAT BECAME CENTERS OF ABOLITION AND ACTIVISM OF BLACK PEOPLE BUT AS WE MOVE INTO THE 20th CENTURY HOW THIS REGION BECAME THE CENTER OF THE MOST ADVANCED CAPITALIST MANUFACTURING ON THE PLANET THAT THE MIDWEST, CHICAGO, CLEVELAND, DETROIT WERE TO THAT TIME WHAT SILICON VALLEY IS TO US TODAY.

THE CENTER OF CAPITALIST INVENTION ACCUMULATION PROFIT MAKING, WHAT HAVE YOU.

AND SOME BLACK FOLKS, MEN, WOMEN, CHILDREN FLED TO THE JIM CROW SOUTH AND CAME NORTH IN SEARCH OF BETTER OPPORTUNITIES BUT WHAT I ALSO STRESSED LEVEL ONE LEVEL BLACK FOLKS EARNED BETTER WAGES FOR THEY COULD HAVE FOUND ANY PLACE ON THE PLANET BUT AT THE SAME TIME THEY A PART OF THE MIDWEST WITH THE CENTER OF KU KLUX KLAN CENTRAL MICHIGAN, DETROIT, INDIANAPOLIS, CHICAGO, AGAIN, IS A FRIGHTENING PARADOX BETWEEN OPPORTUNITY AND OPPRESSION WHICH HELP TO RADICALIZE BLACK PEOPLE WHICH PROMPTED BLACK FOLKS TO FORGE A MILITANT RACIAL CONSCIOUSNESS WHICH HELPED THE BLACK FOLKS UNDERSTAND THAT THEY WERE NOT JUST PART OF THIS REGION BUT THEY WERE PART OF A MUCH LARGER WORLD AND THAT THEY WERE COMMITTED TO BUILDING A NEW WORLD.

>> AND THE BOOK THAT YOU'RE CURRENTLY WORKING ABOUT GARVEY'S HIM EXPLAIN THAT SOME OF THE PAN AFRICAN VIEW OF THE WORLD'S BECOMING AN INDEPENDENT NATION U.S. AND THERE WAS QUITE A FOLLOWING BEEN.

SOME IS HERE IN MICHIGAN IS TAKE US TO THE HISTORY BECAUSE IT PLAYS SUCH A PROMINENT ROLE DURING THIS PERIOD.

>> ABSOLUTELY.

FOR THE VIEWERS WHO ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH MARCUS TO GARVEY'S HIM EIGHT MARCUS GARVEY ALONG WITH HIS FIRST WIFE AMY ASHWOOD GARVEY WOULD COFOUND THE UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION IN 1914.

THEY WERE JAMAICAN.

AND THEY ENVISIONED THIS A GROUP A VANGUARD FOR UPLIFTING GLOBALLY.

THEY CAME TO THE U.S. DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND THEN IMMEDIATELY FOUNDED DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR THE GARVEY MOVEMENT EMERGED AS THE LARGEST BLACK MOVEMENT IN HISTORY.

THEY CLAIMED AS MANY AS 6 MILLION MEMBERS WORLDWIDE INCLUDING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF BLACK PEOPLE ACROSS THE CHICAGO DETROIT CLEVELAND THEY WERE HOTBEDS OF THIS AND THIS WAS FOUNDATIONAL TO INSPIRING THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, BLACK POWER, AND INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENTS ACROSS AFRICA AND THE CARIBBEAN.

FOR EXAMPLE, THE FLAG OF THE MY BACKGROUND YOU SEE THE RED BLACK AND GREEN MY LEFT SHOULDER AND THAT FLAG WAS INVENTED BY GARVEY.

HE SAID THAT BLACK PEOPLE DID NOT HAVE THEIR OWN COUNTRY OR THEIR OWN NATION AND HE WAS GOING TO BUILD A NATION SO THE RED BLACK AND GREEN FLAG THAT HE INVENTED IN 1919 BECAME FOUNDATIONAL AND A FOUNDATIONAL PATTERN TO MANY FLAGS ACROSS THE AFRICAN WORLD IN TERMS OF MICHIGAN, AN INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT LINK TO MICHIGAN WOULD BE ONE OF MY KEY SUBJECTS OF MY NEW BOOK AND THAT OF COURSE WOULD BE LOUISE LITTLE.

SHE WAS FROM THE CARIBBEAN ISLAND OF GRENADA AND SHE JOINED THE GARVEY MOVEMENT IN CANADA AND SHE CAME TO OMAHA NEBRASKA WITH HER HUSBAND EARLE LITTLE.

SHE WAS A DEVOTED GARVEY GRASSROOTS ACTIVIST WHICH IS BEST KNOWN AS THE MOTHER OF MALCOM X AND OF COURSE BROTHER MALCOLM AND AT A YOUNG AGE WOULD MOVE TO LANSING MICHIGAN WHERE HE CAME OF AGE A FAMILY OF RACIALLY PROUD SELF-DETERMINED FAMILY WHO OF COURSE BECAUSE OF THEIR PRIDE IN THEIR CONFIDENCE AND OF THE BRILLIANCE THE WHITE FOLKS THE CLAN WENT AFTER THEM AND MICHIGAN GROWING UP IN MICHIGAN WAS FOUNDATIONAL TO THE MAKING OF MALCOLM X AND BOTH OF HIS PARENTS WHO ARE GARVEY.

>> HISTORY OF THE WE IS AS WE SPOKE ABOUT THERE IS A LINK TO GRAND RAPIDS.

>> THE NEARBY KALAMAZOO 1939 LOUISE LITTLE WAS COMMITTED OR SENT TO THE KALAMAZOO MENTAL HOSPITAL AND THAT SHE SUFFERED A MENTAL BREAKDOWN CAUSED IN NO SMALL PART TO THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND UNDER SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES BUT REALLY HOW WHITE STATE ACTORS AND WHITE SOCIAL WORKERS AND WHITE PROBATE JUDGES WENT AFTER HER.

THEY STRIPPED HER OF HER CHILDREN AND HE SAID THAT SHE WAS INSANE AND THEY INSTITUTIONALIZED HER IN A KALAMAZOO MENTAL HOSPITAL.

FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS AT.

IT IS TRAGIC BUT HER STORY IS TRULY A STORY OF RESILIENCE BECAUSE A 1963 HER SON FILBERT LITTLE OR THEN FILBERT X WAS SHE MOVED IN WITH HIM IN GRAND RAPIDS FIRST APPEARED SHE SPENT SEVERAL YEARS AFTER SHE GOT OUT OF THAT HOSPITAL IN GRAND RAPIDS AND IT TO THIS DAY LOUISE LITTLE STILL HAS FAMILY IN AREA.

THE FAMILY WHO IS INCREDIBLY PROUD OF THEIR ANCESTOR AND AGAIN LOUISE LITTLE SPEAKS TO THE DIASPORA MIDWEST AND THE WAY IN WHICH IT HAS BEEN INEXTRICABLY LINKED TO NOT JUST THE U.S.

BUT TO THE LARGER AFRICAN WORLD AND BEYOND.

SHE WAS BORN IN GRENADA AND SHE MOVED TO CANADA WHERE SHE WAS IN MONTRÉAL WHERE SHE BECAME INTRODUCED TO THE GARVEY MOVEMENT AND JOINED IT THEN SHE MOVED TO OMAHA AND THEN THE FAMILY LAUGHED AND SPENT SOME TIME IN MILWAUKEE AND INDIANA HARBOR INDIANA AND THEN ULTIMATELY IN LANSING.

TRULY SHE STANDS AS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT HISTORICAL FIGURES FROM MICHIGAN.

CERTAINLY HER SON I WOULD ARGUE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT HISTORICAL FIGURE TO COME OUT OF LANSING MICHIGAN.

INDEED.

>> THERE SEEMS TO BE THESE MIGRATIONS THAT WE SAY.

AND THERE IS A CARIBBEAN PRESENCE DESCENDED FROM THE CARIBBEAN AND ALSO CANADA PLAYS A ROLE IN THE NUMBER OF THE MIGRATIONS THAT WE SEE THROUGHOUT THE MIDWEST.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THAT.

>> ABSOLUTELY.

WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND AND THINK OF THE MIDWEST AS AN INTERNATIONAL CROSSROADS.

IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN.

AND DID NOT JUST SINCE THE ARRIVAL OF AFRICANS AND EUROPEANS BUT WE SHOULD PAY HOMAGE TO THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WHO REGION FOR THEM ACROSS WORDS AMONG MANY NATIONS ACROSS NORTH AMERICA BUT GOING BACK TO YOUR QUESTION OR COMMENT ABOUT IMPORTANCE OF MIGRATION SO-CERTAINLY 18th CENTURY AND EARLIER WE SEE AFRICAN PEOPLE FROM WHAT IS NOW THE U.S. SOUTH BUT ALSO FROM CANADA AND BEYOND COMING AND GOING SUDDENLY AND IN THE MIDWEST OF COURSE RATHER CHICAGO WAS FOUNDED SOBEL BELIEVED TO BE FROM HAITI TO THE FIRST NON-NATIVE SETTLER WHO LIVED IN CHICAGO WAS ACTUALLY A BLACK MAN BUT ACTUALLY THE IMPORTANCE OF MIGRATION THAT WE DON'T WANT TO FREEZE MIGRATION IN TIME.

RIGHT NOW 2021 WE STILL SEE LARGE INFLUXES OF PEOPLE AFRICAN DESCENT FROM THE CARIBBEAN, CONTINENT, MINNEAPOLIS OF COURSE A LARGE SOMALI POPULATION AND THAT'S RIGHT HERE IN CHAMPAIGN BAND WHERE I LIVE THERE IS A LARGE AND DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO OF COURSE UP IN CHICAGO YOU HAVE A A LARGE POPULATION FROM NIGERIA.

WE SHOULD THINK ABOUT THE MIGRATION OR MIGRATIONS OF AFRICAN PEOPLE AS AN ONGOING PROCESS AND NOT SOMETHING THAT SIMPLY HAPPENED DURING THE 17th, 18th, 19th, AND EARLY MID 20th CENTURY IS.

>> WE SEE AN ARC OF HISTORY PLAYING OUT WITH WHITE SUPREMACY RIGHT NOW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES AND POLITICS AND THE PLAY OF HISTORY AND WHERE WE ARE TODAY IT SEEMS LIKE WE ARE SEEING SOME WHAT DOES THAT MEAN AS WE CONTINUE THIS A JOURNEY FORWARD?

>> YES WITHOUT QUESTION THE MIDWEST HAS BEEN BOTH A CITADEL OF BLACK RESISTANCE AND A CITADEL OF WHITE SUPREMACY IN FACT THE BOTH OF THOSE FORCES VERY MUCH ARE LINKED THAT BLACK RESISTANCE IN NO SMALL PART IS A RESPONSE TO THE AVIRULENT HARD-CORE RACISM THAT PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT AND COLOR EXPERIENCE IN MIDWEST TO THEN AND NOW.

IT IS NOT IRONIC THAT WHERE BROTHER MALCOLM CAME UP THAT A SLIGHT CLAN ACTIVITY NOW THAT IS A SITE RIGHT-WING MILITIAS APPEAR FOLKS THAT TRY TO TAKE OVER THE LANSING STATE GOVERNMENT.

WE SEE THESE HISTORICAL CONNECTIONS WHERE AS YOU PUT IT WE CAN SEE THE ARC OF HISTORY.

AND THE FACT THAT OF COURSE GEORGE FLOYD BEING KILLED IN MINNEAPOLIS OR FERGUSON WHICH REALLY OF COURSE IGNITED BLACK LIVES MATTER TO A GLOBAL MOVEMENT AND THOSE THOSE EVENTS OR THE FACT OR WAYS AND HOW BLACK FOLKS RESPOND DID NOT JUST HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT.

COULD THESE WERE RESPONSES TO A HISTORIC PATTERN OF OPPRESSION AND RESISTANCE.

I THINK OF WHAT TO THE MIDWEST OFFERS US AS REALLY A SIGHT FOR IMAGINING AND FIGHTING FOR A NEW AND BETTER WORLD AND THAT IS WHAT IN ESSENCE AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY IN THIS REGION HAS BEEN ALL ABOUT.

ONE CAN SAY THAT'S TRUE FOR ANYWHERE BUT WHAT IS UNIQUE IS THIS REGION WHERE THERE IS A RICH HISTORY OF BLACK INSTITUTION BUILDING DRAWING NO SMALL PART FROM THE RESOURCES BLACK FOLKS EARNED FROM THOSE GOOD PAYING INDUSTRIAL JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES THEY COULD FIND NOWHERE ELSE.

>> WE TALK ABOUT THE DEINDUSTRIALIZATION BECAUSE WE DO HAVE MOVEMENT IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY TO OFFSET THOSE TIMES?

AND TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN SOMEHOW BRIDGE BRIDGE GAPS WHEN IT COMES TO THE SOCIOECONOMIC ISSUES?

BECAUSE THAT SEEMS TO PLAY INTO A LOT OF THE CHALLENGES THAT WE HAVE IN THIS COUNTRY IN GENERAL.

WE CAN SEE THAT WEALTH DISPARITY PLAYING OUT.

>> ABSOLUTELY.

WE ARE SEEING A DISPARITIES PLAYING OUT BUT OF COURSE WEALTH DISPARITIES ARE VERY MUCH RACIALIZED.

AND HOW THEY IMPACT PEOPLE OF COLOR ESPECIALLY BLACK FOLK, LATIN S, DISPROPORTIONATE TO WHITE FOLKS BUT A LOT OF WHITE FOLKS ARE BEING HIT VERY HARD BY DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AS WELL.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED BY AND LARGE IS THAT, AND THIS IS A LONG TRAIN IN U.S. HISTORY, THAT NOT JUST WHITE WORKING CLASS BUT WHITE PEOPLE IN GENERAL, WHEN THEY FEEL THREATENED OR FEELING A SENSE OF ECONOMIC WERE PARITY THEY DON'T ASK A QUESTIONS ABOUT POLICY THEY TEND TO BLAME PEOPLE OF COLOR, IMMIGRANTS, THEY EMBRACE A NATIVISM, A HARD-CORE WHITE SUPREMACY AND THAT'S WHAT WE SEE NOW.

AND SO IN SOME WAYS WHAT I WOULD SAY IN TERMS OF THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ENDING WHITE SUPREMACY IN SOME WAYS REALLY RESTS ON THE SHOULDERS OF WHITE PEOPLE TO COME TO GRIPS WITH THEIR OWN ISSUES AND THEIR OWN PROBLEMS IN THEIR OWN ANXIETIES AND THAT'S NOT TO SAY THAT FOLKS ARE NOT DEALING WITH REAL ISSUES.

I AM FROM THE MIDWEST TO TRY IN CLEVELAND AND I HAVE SEEN HOW THOSE CITIES HAVE BEEN DEVASTATED BY DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND LOSS OF JOBS.

I KNOW FOLKS OUT HERE ARE HURTING AND NOT JUST IN THE CITIES BUT THE RURAL AREAS AS WELL THEY ARE HIT VERY HARD BUT HIS GLOBAL ECONOMIC SHIFTS BUT IT SEEMS TO ME THE QUESTION IS OUR PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY WHITE FOLKS, WILL THEY TRY TO DEVELOP A CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IS HAPPENING AND NOT BLAME FOLKS OF COLOR?

OR WILL THEY FALL INTO A TREND THAT WE HAVE SEEN FOR THE LAST 400 YEARS IN THIS COUNTRY.

BLAMING PEOPLE OF AND TRYING TO EMBRACE A KIND OF WHITENESS TO OFFSET THEIR ANXIETY AND.

>> IT'S A PENDULUM THAT SWINGS.

WE CAN SEE THAT IT IN THIS COUNTRY THE POLARIZATION.

I WAS SWIMMING BACK FOR THE MIDDLE RIGHT NOW.

YOU SPOKE ABOUT BLAMING ED IN CHURCH THEY CALL THAT OTHER RING BUT IN THIS CASE DO YOU SEE WHITE AMERICA COMING TO GRIPS UNDERSTANDING OR ARE WE SAYING THAT THERE IS A RAGE ON ONE SIDE AND THE OTHER AND WE ARE NOT COMING TOGETHER TO COME TO GRIPS AS A NATION?

>> THAT'S A GREAT QUESTION.

CERTAINLY I WOULD SAY AND THIS IS A DRAWN IN THE CLASSROOM WITH WHITE STUDENTS BUT IT'S A YOUNG WHITE PEOPLE THAT THE EVENTS OF LAST SUMMER, THE BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTEST THAT WHAT ONE OF THE THINGS THERE I SAY THAT WAS SO EXCITING ABOUT THOSE PROTESTS IS THAT IT IS NOT JUST BLACK PEOPLE IN THE STREETS AND FOLKS OF COLOR BUT THERE ARE MANY WHITE PEOPLE OUT THERE AND NOT JUST A PLACES WHERE WE MIGHT EXPECT TO SEE WHITE FOLKS PROTESTING BE A NEW YORK CITY OR CHICAGO OR LOS ANGELES BUT SMALL RURAL PLACES ACROSS THE COUNTRY YOU WHITE PEOPLE OF ALL AGES TAKING TO THE STREETS AND DEMANDING JUSTICE AND FREEDOM.

NOT JUST FOR BLACK PEOPLE BUT FOR ALL PEOPLE.

AT THE SAME TIME, AND LET'S BE HONEST, AT THE SAME TIME, THERE IS A LARGE PORTION OF WHITE AMERICA IS EVIDENT IN THE 20 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND THE EVENTS ON JANUARY 6th, WHO AGAIN EMBRACE WHITE SUPREMACY AND WHO ARE EMBRACING IT IN WAYS IN WHICH WE HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE AT LEAST NOT IN THE LAST 30 TO 40 YEARS.

AND IF SO I THINK IT IS COMPLICATED.

IT'S VERY COMPLICATED.

AND IT'S NOT SIMPLY GENERATIONAL IT IS NOT TO JUST OLDER WHITE FOLKS ARE MORE CONSERVATIVE OR REACTIONARY YOUNG WHITE PEOPLE BUT IT IS MORE COMPLICATED AND I THINK ULTIMATELY OF COURSE NOW THINKING ABOUT JAMES BALDWIN AND BROTHER MALCOLM AND EVEN THE WORK OF TONI MORRISON AGAIN THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE AND WHITENESS.

ULTIMATELY, WHAT KIND OF WORLD DO -- WHAT KIND OF WORLD DO WE ALL WANT TO LIVE IN?

AND WHAT I WOULD SAY ABOUT THE MIDWEST IS THAT THE HISTORY OF BLACK RESISTANCE TO HISTORY OF BLACK COMMUNITY BUILDING, THE HISTORY OF BLACK CULTURE AND THE CHICAGO RENAISSANCE WITH TONI MORRISON AND LANGSTON HUGHES WHO WAS BORN IN THE MIDWEST AND IT GOES ON AND ON AND ON BLACK ARTS ARE SO IMPORTANT SO STRONG HERE IN THE MIDWEST BUT ANOTHER WORLD IS INDEED POSSIBLE AND PEOPLE SUCH AS AS MARGARET BURROUGHS ARE THE FOLKS THAT I HAVE POINTED OUT REALLY DO PROVIDE US WITH A ROADMAP FOR BUILDING A BETTER AND MORE FREE WORLD.

>> I AM CURIOUS, HOW SO?

WE ARE TALKING IN THESE BIG BROAD CONCEPTS HERE BUT TO FIND THAT UNDERSTANDING IT IS A EASY TASK.

YOU AND I BOTH KNOW THAT BUT IT IS IT AN INSTITUTIONAL TRAINING DO YOU BEGIN TO FIND THAT UNDERSTANDING TO BROADEN HORIZONS AND TO MOVE FORWARD AS A?

>> IT IS A ISSUE THAT HAS TO BE FOUGHT ON MULTIPLE FRONTS AND I GUESS I CAN START FROM MY OWN SOCIAL LOCATION AS AN EDUCATOR.

I THINK THE CLASSROOM EDUCATION IS ONE SITE TO.

IT'S NOT THE ONLY SITE OR THE LAST SITE BUT EDUCATION, LEARNING, KNOWLEDGE IS ONE SITE, AN IMPORTANT SITE FOR TRANSFORMING THIS COUNTRY IT A TRUE DEMOCRACY WHICH UP TO THIS POINT IT HAS NEVER BEEN.

AND QUITE ARGUABLY, IT WAS NOT OF COURSE THE FOUNDING FATHERS HAD NO INTENTION OF INCLUDING PEOPLE OF COLOR ARE EVEN WHITE WOMEN AND INDEED A WHOLE LOT OF WHITE MEN AS FULL HUMAN BEINGS.

CAP AT ONE LEVEL IT STARTS THAT WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND OUR HISTORY AS A COUNTRY AND AS A WORLD AND THAT HISTORY OFTEN TIMES IS NOT A PLEASANT IT IS UNCOMFORTABLE.

AND AS I OFTEN SAY TO MY STUDENTS WHEN WERE TALKING ABOUT AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY AND WERE TALKING ABOUT RACE AND WHITE SUPREMACY AND PATRIARCHY YES IT IS UNCOMFORTABLE AND IT SHOULD BE.

THESE ARE UNCOMFORTABLE ISSUES BUT YOU DON'T GROW UNLESS YOU EXPERIENCE PAIN BUT AT THE SAME TIME I DON'T AS I SAID IN THE CLASSROOM, I DON'T JUST FOCUS ON DEPRESSION OR THE SAD AWFUL STUFF ALSO FOCUS ON THE RESILIENCE AND CREATIVITY GOING BACK TO A PERSON LIKE LOUISE LITTLE SHE WAS ABOUT BUILDING A STRONG FAMILY AND A STRONG BLACK COMMUNITY AND BUILDING STRONG BLACK COMMUNITIES LINKED TO A LARGE WORLD ON ONE LEVEL THERE IS A LOCAL RESPONSE TO A GLOBAL ISSUE BUT AGAIN I WOULD SAY THAT EDUCATION CONSTITUTES ONE IMPORTANT SIDE OF STRUGGLE BUT OF COURSE THINGS AROUND PUBLIC POLICY AND WHAT WE'RE SEEING RIGHT NOW AROUND VOTER SUPPRESSION AGAIN THOSE ARE MOVES TO SUPPRESS VOTES AND TO TRY TO MAINTAIN A WHITE REACTIONARY POLITICS.

BUT TO BE CLEAR, I'M NOT ARGUING THAT ONE'S RACIAL BACKGROUND EQUATES TO THEIR POLITICS.

AND AGAIN, IT REALLY IS TRULY ABOUT A POLITIC OF SOLIDARITY AND BASED AROUND JUSTICE, FREEDOM, THAT I THINK WE'LL HAVE U FORWARD AND ALSO THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AND HOW WE UNDERSTAND THE BROADER WORLD.

>> AND THE MIDWEST WILL PLAY A ROLE IN ALL OF THIS.

>> ABSOLUTELY.

>> PROFESSOR MCDUFFIE I APPRECIATE YOUR TIME.

IT'S BEEN FANTASTIC.

AND YOU HAVE TO ADMIT YOUR OWN IGNORANCE TO FIND OUT UNDERSTANDING SO I DO APPRECIATE CONVERSATION.

>> IT HAS BEEN GREAT.

>> WE WILL SEE YOU.