A leading scholar of American history, Ward is co-editor of The Making of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement (Macmillan/New York University Press, 1996) and editor of Media, Culture, and the Modern African American Freedom Struggle (University Press of Florida, 2001).  He is also the author of the award-winning Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness and Race Relations (UCL Press/University of California Press, 1998) and most recently, Radio and the Struggle for Civil Rights in the South (University Press of Florida, 2004).  Reviewing this latest book in the American Historical Review, Michael T. Bertrand notes that Ward brings "to the forefront a subject that many historians have rarely granted serious attention. By successfully incorporating the unconventional into a familiar story, he has once again helped to legitimize popular culture within his chosen profession. More importantly, Ward has proven that he is one of the leading civil rights historians of his generation."*   In January 2005 WBUR's Tom Ashbrook featured professor Ward on a show devoted to "The Power of Black Radio."  See also Talking History's program on Ward's book, Just My Soul Responding.  Ward's current book project, on which his ENC lecture was based, examines links between the South and the history of British popular music, paying particular attention to issues of race, gender, religion and regional identity.  His talk was sponsored by the ENC History Department lectures series.

Lecture Poster

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