SHORT TALKS ON BIG IDEAS
Episode 5: Professor Matthew Delmont on African Americans and World War II
Join Frank J. Guarini Associate Dean of International Studies and Interdisciplinary Programs and the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History Matthew Delmont as he talks about the definitive history of World War II from the African American perspective and the experiences of the African American men and women who served.
Professor Matthew Delmont
Dr. Matthew Delmont is the Frank J. Guarini Associate Dean of International Studies and Interdisciplinary Programs and the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History. An expert on African-American History and the history of Civil Rights, his next book, Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad, will be published by Viking Books in October 2022. He is the author four previous books: Black Quotidian: Everyday History in African American Newspapers (Stanford University Press, 2019); Making Roots: A Nation Captivated (University of California Press, 2016); Why Busing Failed: Race, Media, and the National Resistance to School Desegregation (UC Press, 2016); and The Nicest Kids in Town: American Bandstand, Rock 'n' Roll, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in 1950s Philadelphia (UC Press, 2012). He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Public Scholar Award to support this research. In addition to these books, he regularly shares his research with media outlets, including the New York Times, NPR, TheAtlantic.com, Washington Post, and The Conversation. Dr. Delmont has spoken and consulted with Fortune 500 companies, universities, colleges, and community organizations regarding civil rights, diversity and inclusivity, and how to reckon with the history of racism in America.
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Matthew F. Delmont, “African-Americans fighting fascism and racism, from WWII to Charlottesville,” (The Conversation, 2017).
Matthew F. Delmont, “The Black WWII Soldiers Who Spirited Supplies to the Allied Front Line, ” (Smithsonian Magazine, 2022)
Matthew F. Delmont, “Changing hearts and minds won’t stop police violence,” Washington Post, 2020)
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