Bio - E. JAMES WEST

CONTACT

Lipman Building 118
Northumbria University
Newcastle
NE1 8SB

james.west@northumbria.ac.uk or ejwestuk@gmail.com

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ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in American History. Northumbria University, 2018-ongoing
Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor. Elon University, 2017-2018
Teaching Fellow in US History. University of Birmingham, 2016-2017
Graduate Teaching Assistant. University of Manchester, 2013-2015

EDUCATION

University of Manchester. PhD in American Studies, 2015
University of Liverpool. MA in International Slavery Studies, 2012
University of Liverpool. BA in Combined Honours, 2011

PUBLICATIONS

BOOKS

Ebony Magazine and Lerone Bennett Jr.: Popular Black History in Postwar America (Illinois, 2020)
Lerone Bennett Jr.: A Life in Popular Black History (Massachusetts, forthcoming)
A House For The Struggle: The Black Press and the Built Environment in Chicago (under review)

JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUE

"Race, Immigration and the British Press since 1945." Immigrants & Minorities (2020, with Simon Peplow)
"Radical American Periodicals." Radical Americas, 3 (2018, with Victoria Bazin and Sue Currell)

JOURNAL ARTICLES & ESSAYS

"Race, Precarity, and American Studies in Britain." Journal of American Studies, 53.3 (2019, part of Roundtable on "American Studies in Precarious Times").
"Ben Burns and the Boundaries of Black Print in Chicago, 1942-1954." Journal of American Studies, 53.3 (2019).
"Reading the Radical American Periodical." Radical Americas, 3 (2018 with Victoria Bazin and Sue Currell).
"Black Power Print." Radical Americas, 3 (2018).
“A Hero to be Remembered: Ebony Magazine, Critical Memory and the ‘Real Meaning’ of the King Holiday.” Journal of American Studies, 52.2 (2018).
"Lerone Bennett Jr.: A Life in Popular Black History." The Black Scholar, 47.4 (2017).
“Black Power Across Borders.” Reviews in American History, 45.4 (2017).
"Closer to the Ground: A Conversation with Ann Pancake." Southern Spaces (2017, with Ann Pancake).
“I See Enough Queers Walking the Streets in This City: Homosexuality and Sexual Geographies in Black Consumer Magazines during the 1970s.” Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, 18.2 (2016).
“Power is 100 Years Old: Lerone Bennett, Jr., Ebony and the Roots of Black Power." The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics and Culture, 9.2 (2016).
“We Were All Pioneers: A Discussion with Simeon Booker.” Southern Quarterly, 52.1 (2014, with Simeon Booker).
“Rethinking Representations of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: A Case Study of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” Journal of International Women’s Studies, 14.4 (2013).
“James Brown, Stokely Carmichael and ‘Acceptable’ Forms of Black Power Protest.” Black Diaspora Review, 4.1 (2013).

BOOK CHAPTERS & ENCYCLOPEDIA CONTRIBUTIONS

"A Labor of Love: John H. White, Documerica, and Working-Class Black Chicago During the 1970s” in Simon Balto, Erik Gellman and Andrea Jackson ed., New Histories of Black Chicago (Illinois, forthcoming).
“Get Out! (of the White House): Horror Parody and Social Commentary in the Age of Trump” in Victoria McCollum ed., Make America Hate Again: Trump-Era Horror & the Politics of Fear (Routledge, 2019).
“The Books You’ve Waited For: Ebony Magazine, the Johnson Book Division, and Black History in Print.” In Brigitte Fielder and Jonathan Senchyne ed. Against A Sharp White Background: Infrastructures of African American Print (Wisconsin, 2019).
“No Place Like Home: Chicago's Black Metropolis and the Johnson Publishing Offices, 1942-1975.” In DaMaris B. Hill ed. The Fluid Boundaries of Suffrage and Jim Crow (Lexington, 2016).
“Badman.” In Christopher Fee and Jeffrey Webb ed., American Myth, Legend, and Folklore (ABC-CLIO, 2016).
"A Double-Edged Sword: Ebony Magazine and the 2008 Obama Campaign.” In Josephine Metcalf and Carina Spaulding ed. African American Culture and Society Post Rodney King (Ashgate, 2015).
“The War on Drugs.” In Michael S. Green and Scott L. Stabler ed. Ideas and Movements That Shaped America (ABC-CLIO, 2015).
“The Assassination of Malcolm X.” In Michael Newton-Matza ed. Disasters and Tragic Events that Shaped American History (ABC-CLIO, 2014) .
“The Watts Riots.” In Michael Newton-Matza ed. Disasters and Tragic Events that Shaped American History (ABC-CLIO, 2014).

MAJOR RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS

IPS Postdoctoral Fellow. John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress, 2020
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow. Northumbria University. 2018
Fulbright Scholarship. UK-US Fulbright Commission, 2017
Mellon Summer Fellow. Black Metropolis Research Consortium, University of Chicago, 2017
BAAS Postdoctoral Fellow. Eccles Centre for American Studies, British Library, 2016
Mellon Summer Fellow. Black Metropolis Research Consortium, University of Chicago, 2015
Carter G. Woodson Fellow. Archives & Special Collections, Emory University, 2015
BAAS Postgraduate Fellow. Eccles Centre for American Studies, British Library, 2014
IPS Doctoral Fellow. John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress, 2014
Mellon Summer Fellow. Black Metropolis Research Consortium, University of Chicago, 2013
AHRC Doctoral Fellowship. University of Manchester, 2012
SSHRC Masters Fellowship. University of Liverpool, 2011

OTHER AWARDS & PRIZES

Conference Travel Award. Chicago Design. Art Institute of Chicago/Terra Foundation, 2018
USSO Keynote Competition. BAAS Annual Postgraduate Conference. Northumbria University, 2018
Achenbaum Travel Grant. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Duke University, 2017
Small Conference Grant. The Transnational American Periodical. British Association of American Studies, 2017
Small Grants Award. British Association of American Studies/US Embassy, 2016
Conference Travel Award. Across Borders: Print and Periodical Studies in Motion. New York City College of Technology, 2016
Blanchard Dissertation Prize. American Journalism Historians Association. Runner-Up, 2016
Conference Travel Award. Crossroads. Drew University, 2016
Exploratory Research Grant. Hagley Library & Research Center, 2016
Doctoral Research Award. Royal Historical Society, 2015
Postgraduate Essay Prize. British Association of American Studies. Runner-Up, 2015
AHRC Conference Award. University of Manchester, 2014
Doctoral Travel Award. Historians of the Twentieth Century United States, 2014
Ambassador’s Award. BAAS. Best Essay by UK Postgraduate Student, 2014
Conference & Researcher Led Initiative Fund Award. University of Manchester, 2014
Researcher Development Award. Afterlife of Heritage Research. AHRC, 2013
International Research Award. University of Manchester, 2013
Postgraduate Award. United States Embassy in London, 2013
President’s Doctoral Scholar Award. University of Manchester, 2012
SSHRC Travel Award. University of Liverpool, 2012
Combined Honours Arts Prize. University of Liverpool. Highest Graduation Mark of any Combined Honours Student, 2011
Blanche Meyrick Prize. University of Liverpool. Best performance in English Literature, 2011
Sheila Marriner Prize. University of Liverpool. Best undergraduate History dissertation, 2011
Christopher Bushell Undergraduate Scholarship. University of Liverpool, 2009

CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS & INVITED LECTURES

"John H. White, Environmental Racism, and Black Chicago during the 1970s." Presented at the American Studies Association annual conference, Honolulu, HI, November 2019
"Lerone Bennett, Jr. and the Politics of Black Biography." Presented at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History annual conference, Charleston, SC, October 2019
"Teaching Precarity." Part of roundtable discussion at the Teaching American Studies Conference at the University of Warwick, UK, July 2019
"BLK and Black Print Respectability." Presented at the British Association of American Studies annual conference at the University of Sussex, UK, April 2019
"Write Me In! African American Third-Party Candidates in the 1968 Presidential Campaign." Presented at the Centre for Black Humanities Seminar Series at the University of Bristol, UK, February 2019
"A Poem in Marble and Glass: Building Racial Uplift at 820 South Michigan Avenue." Presented at the Chicago Designs Conference at the Art Institute of Chicago, IL, November 2018
"Dick Gregory’s Presidential Campaign and Trajectories of African American Political Activism in the 1960s." Keynote address at the British Association for American Studies Postgraduate Conference at Northumbria University, November 2018
"Race, Place and Black Media Architecture in Chicago." Fulbright Seminar at the University of Illinois-Chicago, IL, March 2018
"Lerone Bennett, Jr.: A Life in Popular Black History." Fulbright Lecture at Northeastern Illinois University, IL, March 2018
"Black Magazines, White Readers and Racial Liberalism." Faculty Seminar at Elon University, NC, February 2018
"The American Expat." Q&A Moderator with Sabrina Sully at The Transnational American Periodical conference at the British Library in London, December 2017
"American Philanthropy in the 1960s." Panel Chair at American Philanthropy conference at Sheffield Hallam University, UK, September 2019
"Bill Cosby, Historically Black Colleges and the Limits of Black Philanthropy." Presented at the American Philanthropy conference at Sheffield Hallam University, UK, September 2017.
"African American Media and the Built Environment in Chicago." Presented at the Black Metropolis Research Consortium Summer Seminar Series at Stony Island Arts Bank, Chicago, IL, July 2017
"Urban Regeneration and Gentrification." Panel Chair at the Historians of the Twentieth Century United States annual conference at University College Dublin, IR, June 2017
"Teaching Fellowships: Challenges and Opportunities." Roundtable at the Historians of the Twentieth Century United States annual conference at University College Dublin, IR, June 2017
"Colonial Occupations, Affect & Economy." Panel Chair at Everyday Empires conference at the University of Birmingham, UK, May 2017
"Black Print, Urban Architecture and the Limits of Black Capitalism." Presented at the MediaCity Seminar series at Salford University, UK, February 2017
"Ben Burns and the Boundaries of Black Print." Presented at the American Journalism Historians Association annual conference in St. Petersburg, FL, October 2016
"Blanchard Dissertation Prize." Roundtable at the American Journalism Historians Association annual conference in St. Petersburg, FL, October 2016
"Selling Black History: From Margins to Mainstream." Presented at the Eccles Centre Summer Lecture Series at the British Library in London, UK, August 2016
"Digitization and Johnson Publishing Archival Collections." Presented at Across Borders: Print and Periodical Studies in Motion at New York City College of Technology, NY, June 2016
"A World Of Our Own: Hoyt Fuller, Black World, and the Politics of Space." Presented at the Radical America conference at the University of Sussex, UK, May 2016
"Why Is My Curriculum White? Challenging Historical Practises in British Higher Education." Presented at Crossroads: The Future of Graduate History Education at Drew University, NJ, March 2016
"Ebony Magazine, the Johnson Book Division, and Black Print Cultures in the 1960s." Presented at the Network of American Periodical Studies symposium at the British Library in London, UK, December 2015
"Lerone Bennett, Jr. and the Making and Shaping of Modern Black History." Presented at the Black Metropolis Research Consortium Summer Seminar series at Chicago Public Library, June 2015
"The Liberty to Show the Dark Side: Birth of a Nation, Johnson Publishing Company and Corporate Responsibility in Post-War America." Presented at Art Culture and Ethics in Black and White, 100 Years of The Birth of a Nation at University of Manchester, UK, May 2019
"Writing Across the Color Line: Ethics, Problems and Productive Possibilities." Presented at the MELUS annual conference at the University of Georgia, GA, April 2015
"Power was Changing Colors: Lerone Bennett Jr., Stokely Carmichael and Black Power Past and Present." Presented at the Media & Civil Rights History Symposium at the University of South Carolina, SC, April 2015
"The Books You’ve Waited For: The JPC Book Division and the Recovery of Black History." Presented at the Cambridge History Postgraduate Seminar series at the University of Cambridge, UK, March 2015
"This Issue is a History Book in Itself: Ebony Magazine and the Pedagogy of Black History." Presented at African American Expression in Print and Digital Culture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, MI, September 2014
"Listen to the Blood: Ebony, Advertisers and African American Cultural Politics from King to Reagan." Presented at the Kluge Center Research Lunch Series at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., July 2014
"American Dreams." Panel Chair at the American Studies Postgraduate Conference at the University of Manchester, UK, May 2014
"His Light Still Shines: Ebony Magazine, American Advertisers and King’s Rhetorical Legacy." Presented at the British Association of American Studies annual conference at the University of Birmingham, April 2014
"Let’s Get It Together: Ebony, Greyhound and African American Corporate Citizenship in the Post-Civil Rights Era." Presented at the Cutting Edge Postgraduate conference at Edge Hill University, UK, March 2014
"Dispatches from the Ebony Tower: Building Race History at 820 South Michigan Avenue." Presented at the British Association of American Studies Postgraduate conference at the University of Nottingham, UK, December 2013
"A Double-Edged Sword? The ‘Post-Racial’ President and the Curious Case of Ebony Magazine." Presented at the African American Experience since 1992 at Hull University, UK, September 2013
"Reconsidering the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission." Presented at the Forced Marriage, Gender and Conflict Situations workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, November 2012.
"American Dress and African Identity in the Emerging Liberian State." Presented at Rags and Riches: Dress and Dress Accessories in Social Context at Reading University, UK, April 2013