{"id":31073,"date":"2026-03-03T18:31:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T00:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/?post_type=tribe_events&p=31073"},"modified":"2026-04-14T14:48:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T19:48:57","slug":"building-the-black-city-expanding-the-case-for-reparations-for-descendants-of-african-people-enslaved-in-america","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/event\/building-the-black-city-expanding-the-case-for-reparations-for-descendants-of-african-people-enslaved-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Dean’s Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities: Black City-Builders: Reinforcing the Case for Reparatory Justice in America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Presented by Dr. Joe Trotter Jr.<\/h3>\n

Friday, April 17, 2026
\n4:30 – 6:00 p.m., Reception to Follow<\/em>
\nAlumni Fireside Lounge – 51ÁÔÆæ Student Union
\n2200 East 51ÁÔÆæ.<\/h3>\n

Dr. Joe William Trotter, Jr. is the Giant Eagle University Professor of History and Social Justice and past History Department Chair at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the director and founder of Carnegie Mellon\u2019s\u00a0Center for Africanamerican Urban Studies and the Economy\u00a0(CAUSE) and past president of both the Urban History Association and the Labor and Working Class History Association.<\/p>\n

This lecture is based upon Dr. Trotter’s recent book, Building the Black City: The Transformation of American Life <\/i>(California, 2024).\u00a0 While contemporary urban and labor studies acknowledge the impact of Black labor on the built environment of American cities, both \u00a0scholars and the larger public have found it more difficult to conceptualize predominantly poor and working class Black urbanites as \u201cCity-Builders.\u201d\u00a0 Hence, this talk will underscore how African Americans double-taxed their own labor and built their own city within the city to serve their own needs.\u00a0 Whereas the case for reparations is usually based on land dispossession, unpaid and underpaid labor, this lecture will move the notion of a \u201cBlack City\u201d from the periphery to the center of the case for reparatory justice for descendants of African people \u201censlaved\u201d and later \u201cJim Crowed\u201d in the United States of America.\u00a0 As such, the case for reparations, he concludes, must also include a focus on the creativity of Black people as \u201cCity-Builders\u201d in their own interests as well as exploited workers.<\/p>\n

The Dean’s Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities is made possible by generous funding from the Vilas Trust.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Presented by Dr. Joe Trotter Jr. Friday, April 17, 2026 4:30 – 6:00 p.m., Reception to Follow Alumni Fireside Lounge – 51ÁÔÆæ Student Union 2200 East 51ÁÔÆæ. Dr. Joe William Trotter, Jr. is the Giant Eagle University Professor of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12944,"featured_media":31089,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","_tribe_events_is_hybrid":"","_tribe_events_is_virtual":"","_tribe_events_virtual_video_source":"","_tribe_events_virtual_embed_video":"","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button_text":"","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_at":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_to":[],"_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_event":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_views":"","_tribe_events_virtual_url":"","footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[428,418],"class_list":["post-31073","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tribe_events_cat-lectures-conferences-and-symposiums","tribe_events_cat-uwm-campus-events","cat_lectures-conferences-and-symposiums","cat_uwm-campus-events"],"yoast_head":"\nLetters & Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/event\/building-the-black-city-expanding-the-case-for-reparations-for-descendants-of-african-people-enslaved-in-america\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dean's Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities: Black City-Builders: Reinforcing the Case for Reparatory Justice in America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Presented by Dr. Joe Trotter Jr. Friday, April 17, 2026 4:30 – 6:00 p.m., Reception to Follow Alumni Fireside Lounge – 51ÁÔÆæ Student Union 2200 East 51ÁÔÆæ. 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