Building the Black Cities: African Americans and Labor

Building the Black Cities: African Americans and Labor

In concert with the 2025 National Black History Month theme “African Americans and Labor,” The Citadel’s Office of Multicultural Student Services will host Dr. Joe William Trotter, Jr. on Tuesday, February 11, in Capers Hall Auditorium at 6:30 p.m. Trotter is the Giant Eagle University Professor of History and Social Justice at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburg, PA. His talk will focus on the historical efforts of African Americans to create economic agency for themselves through various types of work. The program will conclude with a brief Q&A.

In addition to teaching at CMU, Trotter is the author of several books and publications including Workers on Arrival: Black Labor in the Making of America (University of California Press) and African American Workers and the Appalachian Coal Industry (West Virginia University Press). For his contributions to the fields of history and social justice, Trotter was recognized by the American Historical Association with its Award for Scholarly Distinction and the John Lewis Award for History and Social Justice in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Host or Publisher The Citadel Military College of SC