Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, is establishing the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy. A conference on “Barack Obama and American Democracy” held this past weekend served as the kickoff event. The conference included workshops, panel discussions, and a keynote address by Jeremi Suri of the University of Texas.
The founding director of the new center at Tufts is Peniel E. Joseph, a professor of history at the university. He outlines the goals of the center by stating, “We will tie together Tufts’ longstanding commitment to active global citizenship with a research-intensive approach to issues of race and democracy that affect us at the local, national, and global level. One of our goals is to impact policy debates, scholarship and social and political dialogue.”
Dr. Joseph is the author of Waiting ’til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America and Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to Barack Obama. Professor Joseph is a graduate of Stony Brook University, part of the State University of New York System. He earned a Ph.D. at Temple University.
