An Ordinary White: My Antiracist Education 

with author David Roediger

Historian David Roediger will present stories from his new book, An Ordinary White: My Antiracist Education, and then pursue the meaning of those experiences in dialogue with Guy Lancaster.

Historian David Roediger will present stories from his new book, An Ordinary White: My Antiracist Education, and then pursue the meaning of those experiences in dialogue with Encyclopedia of Arkansas editor, Guy Lancaster. The memoir describes Roediger’s youth in a family of southern Illinois workers. He portrays the racism that he was carefully taught, both in a small, all-white town and the city of Cairo. He recalls also the ways in which midwestern places may nurture other conclusions about social justice.  
 
Refreshments will be served at 7:00 and the talk will begin at 7:30. Parking will be validated for the CALS Parking garage and surface lots. Books will be for sale at the event with a signing to follow the talk. 
 
David Roediger is the Foundation Professor of American Studies at University of Kansas where he teaches and writes on race and class in the United States. Educated through college at public schools in Illinois, he completed doctoral work at Northwestern University. His recent books include An Ordinary White, Class, Race and Marxism, Seizing Freedom, and (with Elizabeth Esch) The Production of Difference. His older writings on race, immigration, and working-class history include The Wages of Whiteness and Working toward Whiteness. 
 
Guy Lancaster serves as the editor of the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas, a project of the Central Arkansas Library System. He is author of several books and articles, including American Atrocity: The Types of Violence in Lynching (2021). 
 
This event is part of the Evenings with History Series and is held in partnership with the CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. Sponsored by the University History Institute, the series features presentations by UA Little Rock faculty members and guest speakers. They share their current research and teaching interests, and many of the presentations illuminate current affairs. These talks offer insight into the workings of historical scholarship and cover a variety of times, areas, and subjects. The format allows for questions and discussion. Refreshments and an informal atmosphere encourage the interchange of ideas.