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MLK Day Event | A Conversation with Veterans for Peace
Should we have a military mainly for defense, or should we use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests? Before Dr. King’s tragic death, he spoke out more and more against government use of military over diplomacy and the use of armed forces in the routine policy of the state. For such actions, Dr. King was criticized heavily and to this day his thoughts on war still make people uncomfortable.
Veterans For Peace will discuss Dr. King's speeches relating to defense versus militarism, showing that they are as relevant today as they were 50 years ago.
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Becoming American | "Muslim Cool: Race Religion and Hip Hop in the United States" with Dr. Su'ad Abdul Khabeer
Su'ad Abdul Khabeer is a scholar-artist-activist who uses anthropology and performance to explore the intersections of race and popular culture.
Su'ad is currently an associate professor of American Culture and Arab and Muslim American Studies at the University of Michigan. She received her PhD in cultural anthropology from Princeton University and is a graduate from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and completed the Islamic Studies diploma program of the Institute at Abu Nour University (Damascus).
Her latest work, Muslim Cool: Race, Religion, and Hip Hop in the United States (NYU Press 2016), is an ethnography on Islam and hip hop that examines how intersecting ideas of Muslimness and Blackness challenge and reproduce the meanings of race in the US.
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Familiar and Exotic: The Long History of Arab Restaurants in the United States
Beginning with the earliest Arab immigrants to the U.S. in the 1880s, restaurants have been a staple of Arab immigrant communities. Originally meant to serve the Arab American population, the restaurants quickly became favorite spots for adventurous eaters. As Arab restaurants began serving more and more non-Arab diners, they transitioned from holes-in-the-wall to elaborately decorated and exotically named dining experiences. Today, there is likely to be at least one Arab restaurant in every small and large city in the U.S., despite the relatively small population of Arab Americans nationally. Matthew Jaber Stiffler, PhD, Research and Content Manager, and Ryah Aqel, Curator of Education & Public Programs, both of the Arab American National Museum, will trace the development of the Arab restaurant over the last 125+ years, with a focus on New York City and metro Detroit.
Ryah Aqel serves as the Curator of Education & Public Programming. She received her B.A. in Political Science & Arab, Armenian, Persian, Turkish and Islamic Studies from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. Her M.A. in Near East Studies was received from New York University. Ryah organizes and implements statewide educational activities, as well as developing programs that educate the public on Arab Americans and the Arab world.
Matthew Jaber Stiffler is the Research and Content Manager at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, MI, where he works with museum staff to accurately represent the diverse Arab American community through the museum’s collections, exhibits, and educational programming. Matthew has also helped to develop the museum’s food-based programming, particularly the Yalla Eat! Culinary Walking Tours. Matthew also leads a national research initiative through ACCESS, the largest Arab American non-profit in the country, in an effort to secure better data about the Arab American community. Matthew received his Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan in 2010, where he serves as a lecturer in Arab and Muslim American Studies. Matthew’s research focuses on the confluence between religious and cultural identities of Arab Americans, particularly through community memory, celebrations, and foodways. He is currently a board member and treasurer of the Arab American Studies Association.
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Graduate Students of Color | Panel on Life in S.T.E.M. at U-M
Graduate and professional students of color at the University of Michigan host a panel to discuss their challenges, victories, and strategies behind their ascension into the realm of S.T.E.M (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
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Nerd Nite #56 - American Race Riots: Our National Sport?
The United States has been the site of hundreds of race-based disorderly confrontations that can be described as race riots. By now, most everyone has seen images from riots on TV whether it’s a riot from the 1960s, or from the more recent unrest in Ferguson, Missouri or Baltimore, Maryland.
But what is a riot? Why do they happen? What are the trends? Common themes? While one can learn quite a bit from the study of any of these individual events, taking on the topic broadly has different lessons for us.
This talk discusses the overall trajectory of race riots in the United States, exploring the greater context for mass race-based conflict.
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AACHM Oral History: Phase Five of the Living Oral History Project
Compilation video from Phase Five of the Living Oral History Project, in collaboration with the Ann Arbor District Library and the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County. With Gwendolyn Calvert Baker, Premail Freeman, Larry Hunter, Joetta Mial, and Essie Shelton.
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Author Event | The Poisoned City: Anna Clark on the Flint Water Crisis
Anna Clark's new book is an account of the disastrous decisions that switched Flint, Michigan's water supply to a source that corroded the city's aging lead pipes—and the eighteen months of activism that finally forced the state government to admit that Flint's water had been poisoned with lead. In the first full account of this American tragedy, The Poisoned City recounts the gripping story of Flint’s poisoned water through the people who caused it, suffered from it, and exposed it. The Poisoned City is a chronicle of one town, but could also be about any American city, all made precarious by the neglect of infrastructure and the erosion of democratic decision making.
Anna Clark is a journalist living in Detroit. Her writing has appeared in ELLE Magazine, The New York Times, POLITICO Magazine, Next City, and other publications. She received the 2017 Excellence in Environmental Journalism award from the Great Lakes Environmental Law Council. Her writing was a “notable” pick in Best American Sports Writing 2012; a “best commentary” finalist from the 2015 Mirror Awards; and a 2016 first-place winner from SPJ-Detroit in online investigative reporting.
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AACHM Oral History: Gwendolyn Calvert Baker
Gwendolyn Calvert Baker was born in 1931. She talks about growing up in Ann Arbor where she began her distinguished career teaching at Wines Elementary and winning Teacher of the Year. She was also faculty at the University of Michigan’s School of Education; National Executive Director of the YWCA; a member of the New York School Board; and president and CEO of United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
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AACHM Oral History: Essie Shelton
Essie Shelton was born in Mississippi in 1930 and moved to Ann Arbor with her father in 1946. She recalls her experience entering an integrated high school for the first time and how she came to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a licensed practical nurse at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. Essie also met her husband at the hospital and together they raised three children.
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AACHM Oral History: Joetta Mial
Joetta Mial was born in 1931 in Jackson, Michigan, and later moved to Ann Arbor. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan and spent her career as an educator in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. In 1987, Joetta became principal of Huron High School after serving as a teacher, administrator, counselor, and class principal at Huron and Pioneer High Schools.