Name: NDL: The Importance of African American Studies During the Time of Anti-Intellectualism
Start: 2026-02-25T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-02-25T20:00:00-05:00
Location: 212 W Cady St, Northville, MI, United States, Michigan 48167

NDL: The Importance of African American Studies During the Time of Anti-Intellectualism

Register: https://nvillelib.org/4qBPBuv
Registration for this event opens Friday, January 23 at 10:00 AM.
This talk places our current political climate into the broader context of the long-term trend of devaluing arts and humanities education.
Justin Williams is an associate professor of History and director of the African American Studies Program at University of Detroit Mercy. He specializes in the politics of modern Africa and its diasporas. He is the author of the book Pan-Africanism in Ghana: African Socialism, Neoliberalism, and Globalization, part of Toyin Falola’s Africa in the World Series on the Carolina Academic Press (2016). Williams has also published articles in African Studies, Journal of Pan African Studies, Ghana Studies, and the two-volume encyclopedia 50 Events That Shaped African American History.
In media, Williams recently appeared in The History Channel's Crazy Rich Ancients, the PBS docuseries Great Migrations: A People on The Move, hosted by Henry Louis Gates, and he is co-host of Fraudsters on the Last Podcast Network.