CV Sections
- Education
- Professional Experience
- Publications
- Other Projects
- Professional Conferences
- Public Lectures and Panels
- Professional Service
- Public Service
- Historical Consultant\Principal Investigator
- Awards, Grants and Citations
- Professional and Honorary Associations
- Departmental Committee Assignments
- School and University-wide Committee Assignments
- Other Activities
- Supervision of Graduate Student Research (1990-present)
- Outside the University of Oregon
- Courses Taught at the University of Washington, Seattle
- Courses Taught at the University of Oregon
Ph.D., History of African Peoples, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1977
M.A., American Urban History, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1971
B.A., American History, St. Augustine's College, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1969
Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of American History, University of
Washington, Seattle, 1999-
Benjamin H. and Louise L. Carroll Visiting Endowed Professorship in Urban History, University of Oregon, Spring Term, 2006
Visiting Professor, Summer Term, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, 2000Knight Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Oregon, 1998-1999
Professor, Department of History, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 1990-1999, Department Head, 1997-1999
Visiting Professor, Summer Term, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, 1997
Visiting Professor, Summer Term, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 1995
Acting Director, Ethnic Studies Program, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 1992-1993
Adjunct Professor, Folklore and Ethnic Studies Program, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 1990-1994
Visiting Fulbright Professor of History, Department of History, University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria, 1987‑1988
Professor, Department of History, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, 1977‑1990
Assistant Professor, Black Studies Program, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, 1971‑1975
Books:
Dr. Sam, Soldier, Educator, Advocate, Friend: The Autobiography of Samuel Eugene Kelly (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2010)
America-I-Am Black Facts: The Story of a People Through Timelines, 1601-2000 (New York: Tavis Smiley Books, 2009)
From Timbuktu to Katrina: Readings in African American History, Vol. 2 (Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2008)
From Timbuktu to Katrina: Readings in African American History, Vol. 1, (Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2008)
Shirley Ann Wilson Moore and Quintard Taylor, eds. African American Women Confront the West, 1600-2000 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003)
Lawrence B. de Graaf, Kevin Mulroy and Quintard Taylor, eds. Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California, 1769-1997 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001)
In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West, 1528-1990 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1998) Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in History
The Forging of a Black Community: A History of Seattle's Central District, 1870 through the Civil Rights Era (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994) Fifth book selected since 1968 for the Emil and Kathleen Sick Series in Western History and Biography
The Making of the Modern World: A Reader in 20th Century Global History (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall-Hunt Publishing Company, 1990)
Other Projects in Preparation:
Urban Archipelago: African American Communities in the Twentieth Century American West (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, forthcoming)
Website Publications:
Schomburg Studies in the Black Experience: The Western Migration, Joint Project of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, and ProQuest Information and Learning Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2005
Book Series Editor:
Race and Culture in the American West, University of Oklahoma Press
Shirley Ann Wilson Moore, Sweet Freedom’s Plains: African Americans on the Overland Trail, 1841-1869 (2016
Charlotte Hinger, Nicodemus: Post-Reconstruction Politics and Racial Justice in Western Kansas (2016
Amina Hassan, Loren Miller: Civil Rights Attorney and Journalist (2015)
Mary Ann Villarreal, Listening to Rosita: The Business of Tejana Musical Culture, 1930-1955 (2015)
Herbert Ruffin II, Uninvited Neighbors: African Americans in Silicon Valley, 1769-1990 (2014)
Dwayne A. Mack, Black Spokane: The Civil Rights Struggle in the Inland Northwest (2013)
Linda English, By All Accounts: General Stores and Community Life in Texas and Indian Territory (2013)
D. Michael Bottoms, An Aristocracy of Color: Race and Reconstruction in California and the West (2013)
Shirley Mock, Dreaming with the Ancestors: Black Seminole Women in Texas and Mexico (2010)
Robert Bauman, From Watts to East L.A.: Race and the War on Poverty in Los Angeles (2008)
Kevin Mulroy, Seminole Maroons in Indian Territory, From Removal to Oklahoma Statehood, 1837-1907 (2007)
Gary Zeller, African Creeks: Estelvste and the Creek Nation (2007)
Website Development:
Founder and Director, BlackPast.org Website. This website at www.blackpast.org, houses over 13,000 pages of primary documents, major speeches, an online encyclopedia and bibliographies among other resources for the study of African American history, and African American history in the West, and Global African History.
African Americans in the West T.V. Series:
In January-February 2006, I made five presentations on the history of African Americans in the West for the annual College of Arts and Sciences Lecture Series. Those presentations were recorded and televised and are still being shown on UWTV, Dish Network, and the Research Channel in cities across the United States. According to UWTV as of April 15, 2008, the five programs have been viewed on these networks by an estimated 4.2 million people around the world. These presentations continue to be shown across the nation by UWTV and other public television affiliates.
Book Chapters/Contributions/Introductions:
"Blacks and Asians in a White City: Japanese Americans and African Americans in Seattle, 1890-1940," Western Historical Quarterly 22:4 (November 1991). Reprinted in Hazel M. McFerson, Blacks and Asians: Crossings, Conflict and Community (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 2006
“Urban Black Labor in the West, 1849-1949: Reconceptualizing the Image of a Region,” in Joe W. Trotter, Earl Lewis and Tera W. Hunter, eds., The African American Urban Experience: Perspectives from the Colonial Period to the Present (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)
"Comrades of Color: Buffalo Soldiers in the West, 1866-1917," Colorado Heritage 18:(Spring 1996). Reprinted in Steve Grinstead and Ben Fogelberg, eds., Western Voices: 125 Years of Colorado Writing (Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing, 2004)
Introduction to John H. Nankivell, Buffalo Soldier Regiment: History of the Twenty-Fifth United States Infantry, 1869-1926 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001)
"Susie Revels Cayton, Beatrice Morrow Cannady, and the Campaign for Social Justice in the Pacific Northwest," in William Robbins, ed., The Great Northwest: The Search for Regional Identity (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2001)
"From Esteban to Rodney King: Five Centuries of African American History in the West," Montana: The Magazine of Western History 46:4 (Winter 1996) Winner, Vivian A. Paladin Award for the best article to appear in Montana in 1996-1997. Reprinted in Walter Nugent and Martin Ridge, eds., The American West: The Reader (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999)
"The African American Experience in Nebraska," Introduction to Bertha W. Calloway and Alonzo Smith, eds., Visions of Freedom on the Great Plains: An Illustrated History of African Americans in Nebraska (Virginia Beach, Va.: Donning Company Publishers, 1998)
Introduction to Henry O. Flipper, The Colored Cadet at West Point: Autobiography of Lieutenant Henry Ossian Flipper (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998)
"'There Was No Better Place to Go': The Transformation Thesis Revisited, African American Migration to the Pacific Northwest, 1940-1950," in Paul Hirt, ed., Terra Pacific: People and Place in Northwest America and Western Canada (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1998)
"Mary Ellen Pleasant," in Glenda Riley and Richard Etulain, eds., By Grit and Grace: Women Who Shaped the Pioneer West (Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing, 1997)
"Blacks and Asians in a White City: Japanese Americans and African Americans in Seattle, 1890-1940," Western Historical Quarterly 22:4 (November 1991). Reprinted in Clyde A. Milner, II, ed., Major Problems in the History of the American West: Documents and Essays second edition, (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1997)
"Through the Prism of Race: The Meaning of African American History in the American West," in Clyde A. Milner, ed., A New Significance: Re-Envisioning the History of the American West (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996)
"Contentious Legacy: The Nigerian Youth Movement and the Rise of Ethnic Politics, 1934-1951," in C.S. Momah and Hakeem Harunah, eds., Nigerian Studies in Religious Tolerance, Volume III, Ethnicity, Religion and Nation-Building, (Lagos: University of Lagos Press\Center for the Propagation of Religious and Ethnic Tolerance, 1995)
"Slaves and Free Men: Blacks in the Oregon Country, 1840‑1860," Oregon Historical Quarterly 83:2 (Summer, 1982). Reprinted in Sucheng Chan, Douglas Henry Daniels, Mario T. Garcia, and Terry P. Wilson, eds., Peoples of Color in the American West (Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company, 1994)
(with Donald Grinde) "Red v. Black: Conflict and Accommodation in the Post-Civil War Indian Territory, 1865‑1907," American Indian Quarterly 8:3 (Summer, 1984) Reprinted in Sucheng Chan, Douglas Henry Daniels, Mario T. Garcia, and Terry P. Wilson, eds., Peoples of Color in the American West (Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company, 1994)
"The Emergence of Black Communities in the Pacific Northwest, 1865-1910," Journal of Negro History 64:4 (Fall, 1979) Recipient, Carter G. Woodson Award for Best JNH Article, 1978‑1979. Reprinted in Kenneth L. Kusmer, ed., Black Communities and Urban Development in America, 1720-1990 10 Vols., (Hamden, Ct: Garland Publishing Inc, 1991), Vol. 4, From Reconstruction to the Great Migration, 1877-1917
"Black Urban Development: Another View, Seattle's Central District, 1910‑1940, A Case Study," Pacific Historical Review 58:4 (November 1989) Reprinted in Kenneth L. Kusmer, ed., Black Communities and Urban Development in America, 1720-1990 10 Vols., (Hamden, Ct: Garland Publishing Inc, 1991), Vol. 5, The Great Migration and After, 1917-1930.
Journal Articles--Invited Contributions:
"Quintard Taylor On the Importance Of Critical Thinking And Skepticism In History," The Human Prospect, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Winter 2016).
“The Peopling of Seattle: Race, Migration, and Immigration, 1851-2015,” Pacific Northwest Quarter, Special Issue, 107: 1 (Winter 2015-2016) 24-34.
"Facing the Urban Frontier: African American History in the Reshaping of the 20th Century American West" (Western Historical Association Presidential Address), Western Historical Quarterly 43:1 Spring 2012), 5-17.
"People of Color in the West: A Half Century of Scholarship," Western Historical Quarterly 42:3 (Autumn 2011) 313-318.
"Ambiguous Legacy: Theodore Roosevelt and the Buffalo Soldiers," Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal 31:1-2 (Winter-Spring 2010):37-42
“Texas: The South Meets the West: The View Through African American History,” Journal of the West 44:2 (Spring 2005):44-52.
"’Justice is Slow but Sure,’: The Civil Rights Movement in the West, 1950-1970,” Nevada Law Journal 5:1 (Fall 2004):84-92
“Seeking Sunbelt Freedom: African Americans in the Urban Southwest, 1865-1970,” OAH Magazine of History 18:1 (October 2003)
"In Search of African American History in the Trans-Mississippi West," in Patricia Limerick, William Travis, and Julia Hobson, Eds. The Handbook for the New West (W.W. Norton, 2002)
"They Went West," American Legacy: The Magazine of African-American History and Culture 7:3 (Fall 2001
"African American Men in the American West," The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 569 (May 2000) "Race and Ethnicity in the Southwest: African American and Arizona History," in Arizona Attorney 34:6 (February 1998)
”African Americans on the American Frontier," in Howard R. Lamar, ed., The Reader's Encyclopedia of the American West (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998) 2500-word essay on 19th Century Western black history
"A View of the Buffalo Soldiers Through Indigenous Eyes: A Response" Raven Chronicles 7:2 (Summer/Fall 1997)
"Comrades of Color: Buffalo Soldiers in the West, 1866-1917," Colorado Heritage 18:(Spring 1996)
"African Americans in the Enchanted State: Black History in New Mexico, 1539-1990," in Thomas Lark, ed., History of Hope: The African American Experience in New Mexico (Albuquerque: The Albuquerque Museum, 1996)
Articles on Sarah Breedlove Walker, Mary Ellen Pleasant, and Oakland, California, in Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod, eds., Encyclopedia of the American West (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1996)
"The Black Towns," "African Americans in the American West" (2,000 word essay), and discussions of black communities in Idaho, Montana and Seattle in Jack Salzman, David Lionel Smith, and Cornel West, eds., Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1995)
"Swinging the Door Wide: World War II Wrought a Profound Transformation in Seattle's Black Community," Columbia: The Magazine of Northwest History 9:2 (Summer, 1995)
"In Search of Nigeria: My Year as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Lagos" in Frank J. Salamone, ed., The Fulbright Experience in Benin (Williamsburg: College of William and Mary Press, 1994)
"African Americans in Pacific Northwest History: Retrospect and Prospect," Columbia: The Magazine of Northwest History 7:3 (Fall, 1993)
"Disparate Images: Black Life in Contemporary Japan," Review of Regge Life's Documentary film, Struggle and Success: The African-American Experience in Japan in Annual Bulletin of the University of Oregon Center for Asian and Pacific Studies (August 1993)
"The Evolution of Post-Bellum African American Culture," in Mary Kupiec Cayton, Elliott J. Gorn and Peter W. Williams, eds., Encyclopedia of Social History (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1993), Vol. II. Twelve-thousand- word essay on African American history and culture since 1865.
"Beatrice Cannady, An Early Twentieth Century Oregon Civil Rights Activist: An Historical Vignette," Linda Harris, Joseph Franklin and Lillian Whitlow, eds., Voices of Kuumba: An Anthology of the Northwest African American Writers Workshop, Vol. 4 (Portland: Metropolitan Arts Commission, 1992)
"Reflections on Two Decades in Pursuit of African American History in the Pacific Northwest," Joseph Franklin and Linda Harris, eds., Voices of Kuumba: An Anthology of the Northwest African American Writers Workshop, Vol. 3 (Portland: Metropolitan Arts Commission, 1991)
Biographical entries for Jesse Jackson, Otto Kerner, Burke Marshall and Huey P. Newton in Historical Dictionary of Civil Rights in the United States (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1991)
Biographies of Lloyd Bentsen and Richard Gephardt in Encyclopedia of World Biography (New York: McGraw Hill, 1991)
"The Troublesome Presence: Black Americans and the United States Constitution," Proceedings of the International Conference on Federalism in a Changing World (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: Obafemi Awolowo University Press, 1988)
Biographies of John B. Connally, Estes Kefauver, John W. McCormack and Edmund Muskie in Encyclopedia of World Biography (New York: McGraw Hill, 1986)
"Slave Family Life on the Fazenda and Plantation: A Comparison of Brazil and the United States, 1750‑1850," Proceedings of the First Annual Conference on Records, Family History and Genealogy Vol. 11 (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1980)
Articles in Refereed Journals:
"’The Civil Rights Movement in the American West: Black Protest in Seattle, 1960-1970,’” Journal of Negro History 80:1 (Winter 1995)
"The Question of Culture: Black Life and the Transformation of Black Urban America," Essays in History: The Journal of the Historical Society of the University of Lagos, Nigeria 6:4 (December, 1989)
(with Donald Grinde) "Native American and Black Interaction in the American Southeast During the Colonial Period," Hampton Institute Journal of Ethnic Studies 9:1 (May, 1981)
"The Great Migration: The Afro-American Communities of Seattle and Portland During the 1940s," Arizona and the West 23:2 (Summer, 1981)
(with Dennis A. Warner, Karen P. Swope and Michael Balasa) "South by Northwest: An Educational Television Series Designed to Teach Regional Black History," Integrated Education 18 (January-August, 1980)
(with Alonzo Smith) "Racial Discrimination in the Workplace: A Study of Two West Coast Cities During the 1940s, Journal of Ethnic Studies 8:1 (Spring, 1980)
"Frente Negra Brasileira: The Afro-Brazilian Civil Rights Movement, 1924‑1937," Umoja: A Scholarly Journal of Black Studies 2:1 (Spring, 1978)
"Black Migration to Washington State, 1940‑1950," Western Journal of Black Studies 2:1 (Spring, 1978)
"Blacks in the American West: An Overview," Western Journal of Black Studies 1:1 (Spring, 1977)
"The Chicago Political Machine and Black-Ethnic Conflict and Accommodation," Polish-American Studies 29:1 (Spring 1972)
Book Reviews:
Wing Chung Ng, The Chinese in Vancouver, 1945-80: The Pursuit of Identity and Power (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1999) in Pacific Historical Review 70:3 (August 2001)
Olen Cole, Jr., The African-American Experience in the Civilian Conservation Corps (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1999) in Pacific Historical Review 70:1 (February 2001)
David Delaney, Race, Place and the Law, 1836-1948 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998) in American Historical Review 104:5 (December 1999)
Bradford Luckingham, Minorities in Phoenix: A Profile of Mexican American, Chinese American and African American Communities, 1860-1992 (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1994) in the Pacific Historical Review 65:1 (February 1996)
"The Scholar-Activist and the Challenge of Social Change: W.E.B. DuBois and Race in America," Review Essay of David L. Lewis, W.E.B. DuBois: Biography of a Race (New York: Henry Holt, 1993) in Reviews in American History, 22:4 (December 1994)
Richard C. Berner, Seattle, 1921-1940: From Boom to Bust (Seattle: Charles Press, 1992) in the Pacific Historical Review, 63:3 (August 1994)
Albert S. Broussard, Black San Francisco: The Struggle for Racial Equality in the West, 1900-1954 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993) in the Pacific Historical Review, 63:2 (May 1994)
David M. Wrobel, The End of American Exceptionalism: Frontier Anxiety from the Old West to the New Deal (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993) in the Oregon Historical Quarterly, 94:2-3 (Summer-Fall 1993)
John D. Winters, The Civil War in Louisiana (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1991) in Gulf Coast Historical Review, 9:1 (Fall 1993)
Howard Beeth and Cary D. Wintz, ed., Black Dixie: Afro-Texan History and Culture in Houston (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1992) in Western Historical Quarterly, 24:2 (May 1993)
Richard Berner, Seattle, 1900-1920: From Boomtown, Urban Turbulence, to Restoration, (Seattle: Charles Press, 1991) in Pacific Historical Review, 62:1 (February 1993)
John Hope Franklin, George Washington Williams: A Biography (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985) in African Concord, Lagos, Nigeria, January, 1989
Peter I. Rose, Mainstream and Margins: Jews, Blacks and other Americans (New Brunswick, Transaction Books, 1983) in Religious Studies Review, 10:3 (July, 1984)
Scott Ellsworth, Death in a Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 (Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1982) in Oral History Review 11 (Summer, 1982)
Mark V. Tushnet, The American Law of Slavery, 1810‑1860: Considerations of Humanity and Interest (Princeton University Press, 1981) in Journal of Economic History 42:3 (1982)
Philip Foner and Ronald L. Lewis, ed., The Black Worker Vol. 6, The Era of Post‑War Prosperity and the Great Depression, 1920‑1936 (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1982), in Umoja: A Scholarly Journal of Black Studies 6:1 (Spring 1982)
"Interracial Sex: White Fears, Black Desires, and Societal Dilemma," Review Essay of Charles Herbert Stember, Sexual Racism: The Emotional Barrier to an Integrated Society (New York: Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, 1976) in Umoja: A Scholarly Journal of Black Studies 3:3 (Fall, 1979)
Norman L. Crockett, The Black Towns (Lawrence: The Regents Press of Kansas, 1979) in Utah Historical Quarterly 47:4 (Fall, 1979)
Rudia Halliburton, Jr., Red Over Black: Slavery Among the Cherokee Indians (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1977) in Umoja: A Scholarly Journal of Black Studies 2:2 (Summer, 1978)
Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1976) in Minnesota History 45:4 (Spring, 1977)
Attended the Western History Association Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon, October 21-24, 2015
Attended the Western History Association Annual Meeting, Tucson, Arizona, October 9-12, 2013. Participated in the Required WHA Council Meeting on October 9
Attended the Western History Association Council Meeting, San Francisco, April 11, 2013
Chair and Panelist for Roundtable Discussion, “African American History in the American West: The State of the Field,” Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, April 11, 2013
Attended the Western Historical Association Meeting, Denver, Colorado, October 2012. I participated in the required WHA Council Meeting, October 4
Attended the Western History Association Council Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 17, 2012
Attended the Western History Association Annual Meeting in Oakland, California in October 2011, to participate as a voting member of the Council and complete my term as President of the organization. I gave the Presidential Address on October 15. That address titled "Facing the Urban Frontier: African American History in the Reshaping of the Twentieth-Century American West," was the first WHA Presidential Address to be filmed by C-SPAN. It began being featured on the network in December, 2011
Presented at Session "How to Build Influential Digital History Projects: BlackPast.org and the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project," along with University of Washington colleague James Gregory at the Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American History Association, Seattle, Washington, August 12, 2011
Session Chair, "The Rebellious 1970s," Race, Radicalism, and Repression on the Pacific Coast Conference, University of Washington, Seattle, May 14, 2011
"Freedom's Frontier: Kansas and the Idea of African American Liberty, 1856-1877," Keynote Address, Battleground for Freedom, The Underground Railroad on the Western Frontier Conference, Topeka, Kansas, July 29, 2010
"The Culture of Western Migration: African Americans on the Racial Frontier, 1800-1945," at the Conference on Race and Ethnicity in the Canadian West, University of Edmonton, Edmonton, Alberta, June 20, 2008
Panel Chair, “African American Migration to Missouri Between the Civil War and World War I,” Organization of American Historians, Midwest Regional Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska, July 2006
Panel Chair, “’The Consequences Will be World Shaking’: Martin Luther King, African & Global Justice,” Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., April 2006
Panel Chair: “African American Communities in the Modern American West,” Western History Association Annual Conference, Phoenix, Arizona, October, 2005
Panel Chair, “African Americans and “Others”: Ambiguities of Multigroup Alliances in the Civil Rights Era,” Annual American Historical Association Meeting, Seattle, Washington, January 2005
Participant, Roundtable Discussion on African American Slavery in 19th Century California, California State Library\California State University Library, Sacramento, California, November, 2003
Panel Chair, "Japanese and African Americans: Encounters and Perceptions," Blacks and Asians: Encounters Through Time and Space, International Conference, Boston University, April 2002
Panel Chair, "Racial Boundaries and Asian American Communities in the Northwest," Fifty-Fifth Annual Pacific Northwest History Conference, Seattle, April 2002
Conference Panelist, "Buffalo Soldiers\Native Americans: Perceptions and Encounters in the 19th Century West," University of Arizona Southwest Center, Tucson, Arizona, March 2002
Panel Chair, "Migration, Labor and the Racial Frontier," at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California, January 2002
Panel Chair, "LA Ethnic," at the Western History Association Meeting, San Diego, California, October 2001
Panel Chair, "Defining the African Diaspora," at Diaspora Paradigms: New Scholarship in Comparative Black History Conference, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, September, 2001
Panel Chair, "20th Century Asian American and African American Perspectives on the Other," at the Asian American Studies Association Meeting, Toronto, Canada, April 2001
Panel Chair, "Building American Neighborhoods: Understanding Federal Policy's Failure and Successes," at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, January 2000
Panel Chair, "Seeking El Dorado: African Americans and the California Dream," at the Western History Association Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon, October, 1999
Panel Chair, "Civil Rights Activism in the West, World War II and the Post-War Era," at the Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association Meeting, Maui, Hawaii, August 1999
Panel Commentator, "The Unheralded Triumph: Residential Integration and its Consequences for Blacks in California Suburbs, 1960-1990" at the Pacific Coast Branch/American Historical Association Meeting, San Diego, California, August 1998
"The Urban West: Broadening the Lens of African American History, Work and Social Policy" at the Seminar for African American Urban Studies: History, Work,
and Social Policy, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, February 1998
Panel Chair, "Filling the Vacuum: African Americans and the Urban West," at the Western History Association Meeting, St. Paul, Minnesota, October, 1997
Panel Chair, "The African American Urban Experience in the Twentieth Century American West," at the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History Annual Meeting, Charleston, South Carolina, October 1996
Discussant on the Career of Kenneth W. Porter, Roundtable: "Pioneer" Historians of the African American West, Western History Association Meeting, Denver, Colorado, October 1995
Panel Moderator, "Communities and Colonies in the West," at Symposium on Blacks in the West: Image and Reality, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, September, 1995
"The Black Urban West on the Pacific Slope: Community Formation Among African Americans in San Francisco and Los Angeles, 1860-1920," Symposium: The Black Route West, University of California, Davis, September 1995
Commentator, Session on Gender and Race in the Far West, Power and Place in the North American West, Third Annual Symposium of the Center for the Study
of the Pacific Northwest, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, November 1994
Commentator, Session on The Cultural Construction of the Western Landscape, Western History Association Meeting, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 1994
"African Americans in the West: A Comparative Perspective," Presentation at the NEH-sponsored Summer Institute on the American West, Boulder, Colorado, July 1994
"The Urban and Suburban West," Presentation at the NEH-sponsored Summer Institute on the American West, Boulder, Colorado, July 1994
"The Civil Rights Movement in the Urban West: Black Protest in Seattle, 1960-1970," Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, Baltimore, Maryland, October, 1993
Commentator, Session, "Urban Black Communities in the 20th Century: Race, Class and Economic Change," Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians, Anaheim, California, April, 1993
"African American History in the Pacific Northwest: Retrospect and Prospect," Luncheon Presentation, Pacific Northwest History Conference, Eugene, Oregon, March, 1993
"The African American West," Panel discussion at the Association for the Study of African Life and History Conference, Kansas City, Missouri, October, 1992.
Commentator, Session, "The Politics of Liberal Coalition Building," Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, Corvallis, Oregon, August, 1992
"The End of the Ghetto?: The Campaign for Open Housing in Seattle, 1960-1970," Paper presented at the Joint Meeting of the Southern Conference of Afro-American Studies, Inc., and the Caribbean Studies Association, Dakar, Senegal, July, 1991
Commentator, The African-American Experience in the Twentieth Century West: Urban and Suburban, Western History Association Meeting, Reno, Nevada, October, 1990
"Blacks and Asians in a White City: Japanese Americans and African Americans in Seattle, 1890-1940," Paper presented at 54th Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archivists, Seattle, Washington, September, 1990
Chair, Session on Place in American Culture, California American Studies Association, San Luis Obispo, California, May, 1990
"The Troublesome Presence: Black Americans and the United States Constitution," Paper presented at the International Conference on Federalism in a Changing World, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, December, 1987
"The Question of Culture: Black Life and the Transformation of Black Urban America," Paper presented at the 9th Annual Caribbean Studies Association Meeting, London, England, July, 1987
"The Shaping of a Black Community: Seattle's Central District, 1910‑1940,"Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Western Social Sciences Association, San Diego, California, April, 1981
"Slave Family Life on the Fazenda and Plantation: A Comparison of Brazil and the United States, 1750‑1750," paper presented at the First Annual World Conference on Records, Family History and Genealogy, Salt Lake City, Utah, August, 1980
"The Great Migration: The Afro-American Communities of Seattle and Portland During the 1940s," Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Missouri Valley History Conference, Omaha, Nebraska, March, 1980
"Red v. Black: Conflict and Accommodation in the Post-Civil War Indian Territory, 1867‑1907," Paper presented at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association/Pacific Coast Branch, Honolulu, Hawaii, August, 1979
"The Emergence of Black Communities in the Pacific Northwest, 1865‑1910," Paper presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, Los Angeles, California, October, 1978
Presider, Session on the History of Blacks in the American West, 62nd Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, Washington, D.C., October, 1977
Commentator, "A Conceptual Framework for Analyzing the History of Blacks in the Pacific Northwest, 1720-1846," Paper presented at the Pacific Northwest History Association, Pullman, Washington, April 1974
“Black History is All Around Us: The Paradox of African American history in the Pacific Northwest,” Lecture for the Global Diversity & Inclusion Council of the Conference Board (hosted by the Microsoft Corporation), Bellevue, Washington, July 19, 2017
“Juneteenth and African American History in Seattle: The Past as Prologue,” Keynote Address, Seattle Children’s Hospital 11th Annual Juneteenth Celebration, Seattle, Washington, June 23, 2017
“Black Seattle Transformed: The World War II Decade in the Emerald City, 1940-1950,” Horizon House Lecture, Seattle, Washington, April 19, 2017
“African Americans in the Shaping of the West,” 34th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Public Affairs Lecture, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, April 5, 2017
“African Americans in the Shaping of the West,” The Howard R. Driggs Annual Memorial Lecture, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, Utah, March 21, 2017
“A Tribute to Black Wall Street (Tulsa, Oklahoma),” Speech for the Richard Allen Brotherhood, First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Seattle, Washington, February 18, 2017
“Art and Modern African American History: Impressions,” for the Seattle Art Museum’s “My Favorite Things Public Tour,” Seattle Art Museum, December 8, 2016
“Education for a Lifetime of Service,” Keynote Speech at the New Beginnings Christian Fellowship Worship Center, Renton, Washington for its Annual Scholarship Fundraiser, November 5, 2016
“African American Studies: 48 Years of Scholarship and Struggle,” Keynote Presentation at the Banquet Celebration of the Launching of the African American Studies Major at the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, September 29, 2016
“African American History in the 19th Century American West, “Keynote Presentation at the Symposium on the 19th Century African American West, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, May 20, 2016
“From The Emancipation Proclamation to the March on Washington: The Quest for Freedom in the State of Washington, 1860-1970,” Whitworth College, Spokane, Washington, May 5, 2016
“Black History is All Around Us: African Americans in the History of the State of Washington,” Presentation in the Ethnic History of Washington Series, Olympia Timberland Library, Olympia, Washington, April 24, 2016
“Changing the Paradigm: The Incorporation of BlackPast.org into the Curricula of African American Studies,” 10th Annual African American Intellectual Thought Symposium, California State University, Fresno, Fresno, California, April 15, 2016
“The Whitest City in America? The Long and Mostly Not Hidden Influence of African Americans in the History of the City of Seattle,” The Fifth Annual Arthur Denny Lecture, the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI), Seattle, Washington, March 29, 2016.
“African Americans in the Shaping of the American West,” Keynote Presentation at the 20th Anniversary Celebration of Our Story, Inc., Reno, Nevada, March 24, 2016
“The Short but Significant History of BlackPast.org, the Largest Free and Ungated Website Dedicated to African American History Currently on the Internet,” The Rainier Club, Seattle, Washington, February 23, 2016
“The Meaning of African American History and Black History Month,” Black History Month Observance, The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, February 17, 2016
“The Peopling of Seattle: Race, Migration, and Immigration, 1851-2015,” The Annual Alumni Lecture Series, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, January 20, 2016
“’We Have Lived Over a Century in the Past Ten Years:’ The World the Civil War Made,” One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary Commemoration of the 13th Amendment and the End of the Civil War, Washington State Historical Society, Washington State History Museum, Tacoma, Washington, December 18, 2015
“Black Pioneers in Aviation: The Untold Story,” Annual Fundraiser of the Red-Tailed Flying Club, Best Western Hotel, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington, December 12, 2015
“In Remembrance of the Buffalo Soldier: African American Troops in the West and the World, 1866-1917,” Veteran’s Appreciation Day Sponsored Jointly by the Tacoma Buffalo Soldiers Museum and the Washington State Historical Society, Washington State History Museum, Tacoma, Washington, November 11, 2015
“The History of African American Business in Washington State: The Struggle for Inclusion,” THE BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE, South Seattle Community College, Seattle, Washington, September 17, 2015
“Welcome to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest: You Are Not the First Black Folks to Arrive,” Keynote Address, National Conference of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations, South Shore Middle School, Seattle, Washington, March 19, 2015
“From Freedom Now to Black Power: The Seattle Civil Rights Movement Revisited,” Luncheon Presentation, The Rainier Club, Seattle, Washington, March 11, 2015
“Seattle’s Civil Rights Revolution: How Blacks, Asians, and Whites Created a Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s in the Pacific Northwest,” Black History Month Celebration sponsored by the Seattle City Attorney’s Office, City Hall, Seattle, Washington, February 18, 2015
“Slavery and Freedom in the Antebellum Pacific Northwest,” Speech for Black History Month, North Seattle College, Seattle, Washington, February 10, 2015
Participated in Panel Discussion in conjunction with the Premier of the New Documentary, “Spies of Mississippi,” sponsored by KCET, Chanel 9 at the Northwest African American Museum, Seattle, Washington, February 28, 2014
“Black History is All Around Us: African Americans in the Pacific Northwest,” Keynote Speech for KTCS, Channel 9 Teacher Workshop in conjunction with the Premier of the Henry Louis Gates documentary, Many Rivers to Cross, Northwest African American Museum, Seattle, Washington, November 16, 2013
Participated in a Western History Association--Arizona Humanities Council Public Panel Discussion: “Showdown on the Border, Civil Discourse in Uncivil Times,” at the Tucson Meet Yourself Folk Life Festival, Tucson, Arizona, October 12, 2013
“Is Texas the South or the West: A View Through African American History,” Keynote Speech, East Texas Historical Association, Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, Texas, September 26, 2013
"Deconstructing the Buffalo Soldiers: African American Troops on the Late 19th Century Texas Frontier,” First Annual Paul Matthews Lecture, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, Texas, September 24, 2013
“African American History: Is There a Texas Exception?” Lecture Sponsored by the Rutherford B. Yates Museum at the Houston Holocaust Museum, Houston, Texas, June 20, 2013
“Texas, The South or the West? Texas History as Viewed Through African American History,” Presentation at St. James United Methodist Church, Houston, Texas, June 20, 2013
"Is Texas the South or the West? African American History in the Lone Star State,” The Annual Georgiana and Max Lale Memorial Lecture, East Texas Houston, Texas, as part of the University of Washington Alumni Lecture Series, June 18, 2013
“African Americans in the Shaping of American Western History,” Two Speeches Given: the first was at the Tattered Corner Bookstore, Denver, Colorado, and the second at the Tesoro Cultural Center, Morrison, Colorado, April 7, 2013
“African American History and Black History Month: Seattle’s Past Reexamined,” The Breakfast Group, First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Seattle, Washington, February 14, 2013
“The Meaning of African American History and Black History Month,” Starbucks Employees Association, Starbucks Corporate Headquarters, Seattle, Washington, February 8, 2013
“Black History is All Around Us: Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King and Edwin Pratt,” Shorecrest High School, Shoreline, Washington, January 18, 2013
“Kansas and the African American West," The William Tuttle Annual Lecture, the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, October 2, 2012
"The Desegregation of the U.S. Army," The Presidio Lecture Series, San Francisco, September 5, 2012
"The Great Migration, 1915-1930," Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History-Sponsored Lecture for Teachers in the Edmonds, Washington School District, Edmonds, Washington, May 19, 2012
"'Ordinary People': The American Civil Rights Movement, 1946-1964," Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History-Sponsored Lecture for Teachers in the U.S. Virgin Islands, University of Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, May 9, 2012
"The Great Migration, 1915-1930," Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History-Sponsored Lecture for Teachers in the U.S. Virgin Islands, University of Virgin Islands, St. Croix, May 8, 2012
"African Americans in the Shaping of the American West, " Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History-Sponsored Lecture for Teachers in the U.S. Virgin Islands, University of Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, May 7, 2012
"How to Build Influential Digital History Projects: BlackPast.org," Presentation for HuskyFest, 2012, University of Washington, April 21, 2012
"Freedom's Frontier (Black History is All Around Us): African Americans in the History of Washington State," Presentation before the Washington State Council for Social Studies, Chelan, Washington, March 10, 2012
"We Are All Historians: African American History is Family History," Presentation before the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City Utah, March 3, 2012
"When Blacks Were Latinos: African Americans in California and the Early Southwest," Presentation co-sponsored by the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History and the Los Angeles Unified School District for Los Angeles Middle School Teachers. The presentation took place at the Virgil Middle School, Los Angeles, January 21, 2012
"African Americans in the Shaping of the American West," Black History 360*, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City, July 26, 2011
"Young Men: We Need You," Alpha Omicron Boule Scholarship Dinner Presentation, Waterfront Activities Center, University of Washington, Seattle, July 16, 2011
"The Civil Rights Movement in the Pacific Northwest, 1950-1970, Seattle and Portland Compared" Stand Up For Freedom! Symposium Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Freedom Rides, The Robert D. Clark Honors College, University of Oregon, May 20, 2011
"The Civil Rights Movement in the Pacific Northwest, 1950-1970," Stand Up For Freedom! Symposium Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Freedom Rides, The Robert D. Clark Honors College, University of Oregon, May 20, 2011
"African Americans in the Shaping of the American West," Annual Leon Jett Memorial Lecture, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, February 19, 2011
"The Civil Rights Movement in the Pacific Northwest: Seattle and Portland Compared," Keynote Speech, Cannon Beach Arts Symposium on the Civil Rights Movement, Cannon Beach, Oregon, January 28, 2011
`"Nicodemus, Kansas and Freedom on the Frontier: 1856-1900," The Nicodemus Homecoming, Nicodemus Township Hall, Nicodemus, Kansas, July 31, 2010
"Buffalo Soldiers in Defense of the Nation, 1866-1945," National Buffalo Soldier Reunion Banquet, Burlington, Vermont, August, 2009
"Seattle: The Challenge of the Racial Frontier," Last Presentation in the Henry L. McGee Global African Studies Lecture Series, Seattle University, May, 2009
"War and Migration: African Americans on the Urban West Coast, 1940-1946," Presentation for the "All Eyes on History" Project sponsored by the Seattle Public School District and the University of Washington Department of Ethnic Studies, at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence, Seattle, Washington, May, 2009
"The Meaning of Seattle's African American History: Race, Rights and Responsibility," Presentation Sponsored by the Seattle Urban League Young Professionals, First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Seattle, March, 2009
"Through the Prism of Race: The Meaning of African American History in the American West," Speech for the Washington State Departments of Transportation, Corrections and Labor & Industries, Olympia, February 2009
"Seeking El Dorado: African Americans and the California Dream," California State University, Monterey Bay, February 2009
"Suppression and Survival: African American Strategies in Slavery and the Post Slavery South," Presentation to the U.S. Army Stryker Brigade and its commander, Col. Harry Tunnell, Hotel Decca, Seattle, Washington, November, 2008
“The Other Black Northwest: A Tale of Three Communities: Vancouver, The Tri Cities & Spokane," This lecture on October 8 at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon was the first of four lectures of the 2008 Columbia River History Castles Lecture Series. The other lectures were at presented at Washington State University, Vancouver on October 9, Washington State University, Tri-Cities, (Richland) on November 5, and Gonzaga University, Spokane, on November 6
"African American Seattle: The Past as Prologue," Keynote Presentation, Annual Luncheon of the National Black Genealogy Research Group, Bellevue, Washington, October 2008
"Los Angeles and the Making of African American History in the West, 1850-1965," Presentation at the California African American Museum, Los Angeles, September 2008
"Seeking El Dorado: African Americans and the California Dream," Presentation at Scripps College, Claremont, California, September 2008
“Freedom's Frontier: African Americans in Washington State," Presentation at the Timberland Public Library, Olympia, Washington, May 2008
"Through the Prism of Race: The Meaning of African American History in the American West," Department of History, Norfolk State University, March 2008
“Freedom’s Frontier: African Americans in Spokane and the Inland Empire,” Spokane County Bar Association, Spokane, Washington, February 2008
“African American History in the Pacific Northwest, 1860-1920,” Presentation at John F. Kennedy Memorial High School, Burien, Washington, December 2007
“Buffalo Soldiers: A Tribute to Unsung Heroes.” Presentation at the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum, St. Augustine, Florida in honor of William Chase, a former member of the 92nd Infantry, 365th Regiment, United States Army. Special Guest, Congressman John L. Mica, 7th District, Florida, November, 2007
“At Home on the Plains: African Americans and the Shaping of the American West.” Presentation for the University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, September, 2007
“Freedom’s Frontier: African Americans and the Growth of the Pacific Northwest, 1860-1970.” Presentation for the 2007 Simpson-Duvall Lecture, Whitworth College, Spokane, Washington, April 2007
“Seattle’s Open Housing Campaign, 1958-1968: Race, Housing and Competing Definitions of ‘Freedom’ in the Pacific Northwest,” Presentation for the Seattle Human Resources Department and the Seattle Municipal Archives in Conjunction with the Open Housing Archives Exhibit at City Hall, April 2007
“Enduring Legacy: The Black Student Union at the University of Washington, A Brief History,” Black History Month Presentation for the University of Washington Black Student Union, Ethnic Cultural Center, University of Washington, February 2007
“African American History in the Pacific Northwest, 1860-2000: The Hidden Dimensions of the African American Past,” Eighth Annual Black History Month Celebration, International Office, United Parcel Service, Washington District Museum, Seattle, February 2007
“The BlackPast.org and the New African American History,” Clear Channel’s A Celebration of Black History, 2007—A Call to Conscience,” Pantages Theater, Tacoma, February 2007
“Welcoming Remarks,” Fourth Annual Association of African American Historic Research and Preservation Conference, Seattle University, February 2007
“African American Seattle Between 1941 and 1971: Continuity and Change in the Emerald City.” This presentation is in conjunction with the Essential Seattle Exhibit at the Museum of History and Industry, Seattle, Washington, November 2006
“Roots West: Exploring African American Family History in the Trans-Mississippi West,” Plenary Session, Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, October 2006
“Freedom’s Frontier: African Americans and the Kansas-Missouri Border During the Civil War Era.” This presentation is in conjunction with the Liberty on the Border Exhibit at the Washington State Historical Museum, Tacoma, Washington, August 2006
“Exploring Racial and Cultural Borders: African Americans in the 19th Century Southwest.” Lecture for Southwest Vistas: The Border in American History Conference, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, June 2006
“African Americans in the Urban West: The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries,” The Annual Benjamin H. and Louise L. Carroll Visiting Professor Lecture, Knight Library, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, May 2006
“What’s the Civil War Got to Do With the Pacific Northwest: The View Through African American History,” Washington State Historical Society, March 2006
“Jackson Street Jazz: Music, Culture and Race in Seattle, 1920-1950,” Keynote Presentation for the Annual Conference of the Episcopal Urban Caucus, Renton, Washington, February 2006
“The History of African Americans in the American West,” The 2006 University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences Lecture Series:
January 17: Antebellum Slavery and Freedom, 1528-1865, The Paradox of Race and Liberty in the West
January 24: To the Frontier, 1866-1900, Homesteaders, Cowboys & Buffalo Soldiers Search for Freedom in the West
January 31: The Urban Frontier, 1875-1940, African Americans in the Cities of the West
February 7: The World War II Era, 1941-1950, Migration and Transformation
February 14: Into the 21st Century, 1951-2000, The Black West in the Modern Era
“African Americans in the West,” Series of United States State Department-Sponsored Lectures at Siberian universities in the following Russian Cities: Surgut, Tyumen, Ishim, Omsk, Yekaterinburg, September 2-15, 2005
“African American Washington: A History,” Seattle Early Scholars Outreach GEAR-UP Orientation, University of Washington, July 2005
“War and Race, A Changed America?” in Lecture Series, World War II: The War That Changed America, UW Alumni Association, University of Washington, June 2005
“African Americans in Seattle, 1860-2000,” Cleveland High School, Seattle, Washington, May 2005
“’From Civil Rights to Black Power: The Movement in Seattle, 1960-1970,” First Annual Samuel E. Kelly Lecture, Office of Minority Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle, April 2005
“Jackson Street Jazz, 1920-1955” Presentation for the program, Charting Change: Jazz and African American Culture, Department of History and the Alumni Association, Triple Door Nightclub, Seattle, April, 2005
“Understanding African American History: Texas, the South or the West,” Black History Month Commemoration, Texas Southern University, Houston, Texas, February, 2005
“The West Begins Here: Black Kentucky and the African American West,” Carter G. Woodson Convocation, Berea College, Berea, Kentucky, February, 2005
“From George W. Bush to Ron Sims: African American History in Washington State,” Rotary Club of Olympia, Washington, February, 2005
“Living Jim Crow: The View from the West,” Presentation at Lewis Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, October, 2004
“African American History in Washington State,” Interview for “Kids Care,” A public affairs radio program for children, Radio Disney, Seattle, July 2004
“African American Seattle,” Presentation on African American History at the Mercer Island Rotary Club, July, 2004
“Predominately Black Colleges and Universities at the Crossroads,” Interview with Marilyn Morgan for independent documentary on African American colleges, Seattle, June, 2004
“Black Women Confront the West,” Presentation for the Pacific Northwest Historian’s Guild, National Archives Building, Seattle, May 2004
“Texas: The South or the West?” Spring Distinguished Lecture at the Dallas African American Museum, Dallas, Texas, May, 2004
“Facing West: African Americans Pursue the Racial Frontier,” Lecture Given in honor of the late Nudie Williams, Phi Alpha Theta Annual Banquet, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, April, 2004
“The Black West: Meaning, Memory and History,” Second Presentation for the Cooperating School Districts and the University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, March, 2004
“Freedom’s Frontier: African Americans and the Trans-Missouri West,” Presentation for the Cooperating School Districts and the University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, March, 2004
“The West Begins Here: African American Frontiers in Kansas,” Presentation as Scholar-in-Residence at the Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, Kansas, February, 2004
“Native Americans and African Americans: Intersections Across Time and Space in the West,” Address for Ford Foundation-Sponsored Symposium on teaching African Americans and Native American Studies titled “The Shifting Borders of Race and Identity,” co-sponsored by Haskell Indian Nations University and the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, February, 2004
“The Civil Rights Movement in the West, 1941-1970,” Keynote Address for “Pursuing Equal Justice in the West Conference,” University of Nevada Law School. Las Vegas, Nevada, February, 2004
“African American Seattle,” Presentation on African American History at the Rainier Valley Rotary Club, February, 2004
“The West Begins Here: The Meaning of African American History in the Trans-Mississippi West,” Martin Luther King Cultural Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, November, 2003
"Slavery and Freedom in the Antebellum Pacific Northwest, 1843-1861," Presentation to the Civil War Roundtable, Seattle, April 2003
"Seattle: A Geography of Housing Segregation and Integration," Seattle University Law School, Seattle, March 2003
“Borderlands: African American History in the American Southwest," for the Cullum 2003 Lecture Series, "Frontiers in Motion Series: U.S. Latin American/Caribbean Borderlands," Augusta State University, Augusta, Georgia, February 2003
"In Search of the Racial Frontier: The African American Quest for Freedom in the West." Lecture, Booth Museum for Western Art, Cartersville, Georgia, February, 2003
"In Search of the Racial Frontier: The African American Quest for Freedom in the West," Seattle Pacific University, February, 2003
"The Civil Rights Movement in Seattle, 1960-1970," All-Student Assembly for the Martin Luther King Holiday Observance, Lakeside School, Seattle, Washington, January, 2003
"The History and Future of Seattle's Central District," Community Potpourri with Barbara Landers, KRIZ Public Affairs Radio Program, November 2002
“The Irony of Southern Racial Segregation: The Post Civil War South," Lecture in the Essence of Success Program, UW Office of Student Recruitment and UW Office of Minority Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle, November, 2002
"Opening Remarks for Discussion: How Central is the Central District?" in the Which Way Seattle Series, Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas, October, 2002
"Racial Oppression in Seattle: A History," Presentation at Social & Behavioral Sciences MPH (Masters in Public Health) Seminar, Department of Health Services, University of Washington, October, 2002
"In Search of the Racial Frontier: The African American Quest for Freedom in the West," Center for African American Studies Lecture Series, Boston University, September 2002
"Pacific Northwest African American History in the High School Classroom," Presentation for University College Program, University of Washington, August, 2002
Workshop on Antebellum African American political activity in the Pacific Northwest, Regional Managers, Underground Railroad Project, National Park Service, Seattle, July 2002
"African American Western Migration, 1800-1970," African American Migration Experience Project, Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture (New York Public Library) Summer Teachers' Institute, New York, New York, July 2002
"A Geography of Seattle Residential Housing, 1860-1990: From Integration to Segregation to Integration," UW Department of Geography Faculty-Graduate Student Colloquium, Seattle, Washington, May 2002
"Race and Residence in Seattle Housing in the Post-Civil Rights Era: The Paradox of Success," Presentation given at the Fannie Mae\Washington State Housing Leadership Roundtable, Seattle, Washington, May 2002
"In Search of African American History in the Pacific Northwest: A Professional and Personal Odyssey," Keynote speech given at the third annual Ku'Onesha Awards Ceremony honoring Garfield High School African American students for Academic Achievement
"The African American West: Reconceptualizing Race, Ethnicity and Region in Eastern Washington," Department of Energy\Hanford Contractors Black History Month Commemoration, Richland, Washington, February 2002
"From the Mountains to the Plains: The African American Historical Experience in Montana" Seventh Annual Presidential Lecture, University of Montana, Missoula, February, 2002
"When Blacks Were Latinos: Explorations into Political Coalition Building, Past and Present," Keynote Address at Plenary Session, Strangers Among Us, Competition or Coalition Building, The Fifty-Ninth Annual Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama, December 2001
"When Lions Learn to Write: African American History and Historians, A Personal Odyssey," Speech given at the first African American Faculty Forum, University of Washington and the Breakfast Group, co-sponsors, Garfield High School, Seattle, October, 2001
"Black California and the African American West," Speech presented at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California, September 2001
"Ambiguous Legacy: Buffalo Soldiers in the American West, 1866-1917," Presentation for the Fort Concho Historical Museum, San Angelo Convention Center, San Angelo, Texas, July 2001
"Texas, The South Meets the West: The View Through African American History," Phi Alpha Theta Banquet, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, April, 2001
"The African American Western Experience: Black Seattle in the Twentieth Century," Highline Community College, March, 2001
"African Americans in California History, California in African American History," Keynote Address for the Symposium: Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California, The Autry Museum, Los Angeles, California, February, 2001
"The Meaning of African American History and Black History Month: Seattle's History in the National Context," Black History Month Presentation for Seattle City Light Black Employees Association, Seattle, February, 2001
"Through the Prism of Race: The Meaning of African American History in the American West," Keynote Address for the Symposium: A Quest for Freedom: The Black Experience in the American West, Twentieth Annual National Observance of African American History Month, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., February, 2001
"The African American West: Reconceptualizing Race and Region," Whatcom County Historical Society, Bellingham, Washington, October 2000
Panelist for Discussion "Freedom's Road: The Northern Migration of African American Women," Seattle Repertory Theater, September, 2000
"The Civil Rights Movement: Seattle, Past and Present," Seattle Museum of History and Industry, Seattle, June 2000
"The Meaning of Western Freedom: African Americans in the Trans-Mississippi West," in the Looking West, Western Studies Public Lecture Series, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, June 2000
"Juneteenth: The Birth of An African American Holiday," King County Metropolitan Council, Special Session, First African Methodist Episcopal Church, June, 2000
"Seattle's African American Business History: The Decline and Rise of Entrepreneurial Opportunity," University of Washington Business School Fifth Annual Banquet, June 2000
"On California's Urban Frontier: African American Communities in San Francisco and Los Angeles, 1850-1940," California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, May 2000
"African American Western History, African American History, Western American History: Continuity and Divergence," Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, April 2000
"In Search of the Racial Frontier,' Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington, April 2000
"The Great Migration to Seattle, 1940-1945," Fiftieth Anniversary Banquet Presentation, Mary Mahoney Professional Nurses Association, Seattle, Washington, April 2000
"The History of African Americans in the Puget Sound Region: World War II to the 1960s," Olympic College, Bremerton, Washington, April 2000
"African Americans in the Pacific Northwest: The World War II Years," Department of History, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington, March 2000
"The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Pacific Northwest," Idaho Black History Museum, Boise Idaho, March 2000
"Social Justice in The Pacific Northwest: The Seattle Civil Rights Campaign in the 1960s, Luncheon, Pacific Northwest Historian's Guild, Seattle, Washington, March 2000
"York in Context: African American History in the Early Nineteenth Century Pacific Northwest," Filmworks Northwest Public Symposium on the York Video Documentary, Portland, Oregon, February 2000
"Writing African American History in the 21st Century," Scottsdale Public Library, Scottsdale, Arizona, February 2000
""Reflections on Researching and Writing African American History in the West," California State University-Hayward, Hayward California, February 2000
"African Americans in the Pacific Northwest," Bellevue Community College, Bellevue, Washington, February 2000
"Buffalo Soldiers in the American West, 1866-1917: History, Memory and Myth," University of Portland, Portland, Oregon, November 1999
"Texas, The South Meets the West: African American History in the Lone Star State, 1865-1965," Plenary Address, Southern Conference on Afro-American Studies, Inc., Houston, Texas, February, 1999
"Contested Regional Stories: Race and Region, the African American Pacific Northwest," Luncheon Address, The Pacific Northwest: A Region in Transition, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, February, 1999
"Seeking El Dorado: African Americans and the California Dream, 1781-1998," Address at Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, January, 1999 "Civil Rights in the West: The African American Quest for Judicial Justice, 1860-1970," American Civil Liberties Award Banquet, Eugene, Oregon, June 1998
"In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West: 1528-1990," Ninth Annual Symposium, College of Education Center for Multicultural Education, University of Washington, May 1998
"Recasting the Image of the West: The Challenge of Writing the History of African Americans beyond the Trans-Mississippi Frontier," Plenary Address, National Association for Undergraduate Research, Annual Convention, Salisbury State University, Salisbury, Maryland, April, 1998
"The African American West: Myth, Tradition and the "New" Western History," Third Annual National Conference of People of Color in Predominantly White Institutions, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, April 1998
"The African American West, 1528-1970: The Development of a Sub-Field in African American History," Keynote Address at the "West of Color: Image and Reality" Conference, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming April, 1997
“The African American West: Race, Ethnicity and Ideology in New Mexico and West Texas, 1600-1970," Departments of History and African American Studies, University of Texas, El Paso, February, 1997
"From Esteban to Rodney King: Five Centuries of African American History in the Trans-Mississippi West," The Fifteenth David E. Miller Lecture, University of Utah, February, 1997
"Race and Ethnicity in the Southwest: African Americans on the Arizona Cultural Frontier," Arizona Humanities Center, Phoenix, February, 1997
"African American History Revisited: The View from the Trans-Mississippi West," Departments of History and Ethnic Studies, University of Vermont, September, 1996
"African American History in the Trans-Mississippi West: Studying the Past to Face the Future," Black Board of Directors Project, Seattle, Washington, 1996
"Region, Race and Historical Writing: African American History in the Pacific Northwest During World War II, Seattle and Portland in the National Context," Oregon History Center (Oregon Historical Society), Portland Oregon, May, 1996
"Nicodemus, Kansas, Boley, Oklahoma, DeWitty, Nebraska: Racial Utopianism on the late 19th Century High Plains?" Colorado Historical Society Public Lecture Series, Denver, Colorado, April, 1996
"'There was No Better Place to Go': African American Regional History in the Pacific Northwest, 1840-1970," The Twenty-Fourth Sherman and Mabel Smith Pettyjohn Lecture, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, March, 1996
"Building Communities on the Pacific Shore: A Comparative Analysis of the Rise of Nineteenth Century Black San Francisco and Los Angeles," African American History Museum, Fresno, California, and California State University, Fresno, September 1995
"The Search for a Usable Past: African American History in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest," Two Week Symposium for High School Teachers based on my book, The
Forging of a Black Community: Seattle's Central District, 1870 through the Civil Rights Era sponsored by the College of Education, University of Washington, July 10-21, 1995
"Black Workers in Seattle, 1890-1945: Race, Class, Gender, and Region in the Making of an African American Industrial Proletariat," University of Washington-Tacoma, May, 1995
"The Founding of a Black Community: Black Seattle, 1870-1910," Department of History Lecture, Seattle University, April, 1995
"Old West, New West, Black West: Myth and Meaning in African American Regional History," Keynote Address, Symposium on Western American History and Life, Boulder Public Library, Boulder, Colorado, March, 1995
"The 'Double V' Campaign in the Pacific Northwest: African American Seattle in War and Peace, 1941-1950," Banquet Presentation, Pacific Northwest Historians Guild, Seattle, Washington, March, 1995
"African American History on the Pacific Slope: Black Urban Communities in 19th and Early 20th Century Washington, Oregon, and California, Black History Month Observance, Grays Harbor Community College, Aberdeen, Washington, February, 1995
"Rising Voices from a Distant Past: African American Women and Men and the Struggle for Civil Rights in 19th Century Portland," Northwest African American Writers Workshop Celebration of Black History Month, Portland, Oregon, February, 1995
"African Americans in New Mexico and the Southwest," The American West Center, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, January 1995
"From 'Freedom Now' to 'Black Power': Blacks, Asians and Whites in Seattle's Civil Rights Movement, 1960-1970," Emil and Kathleen Sick Lecture in Western History and Biography, University of Washington, Seattle, October 1994
"On the Kansas Frontier: The African American Search for Freedom on the High Plains," Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C., September, 1994
"African Americans in Oregon: A Recovered Past," Speech at South Salem High School, Salem, Oregon May, 1994
"Freedom Now" in the Pacific Northwest: The African American Community and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Seattle, 1960-1970," Speech at Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington, May, 1994
"Toward the Last Frontier: A History of African Americans in the Pacific Northwest, 1850-1970," Black History Month Observance, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, March, 1994
"African American Identity and Image in the Pacific Northwest," Black History Month Observance, Unitarian Church, Eugene, Oregon, February, 1994
"In Search of the Racial Frontier: An Overview of the Black West," Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, Los Angeles, California, February, 1994
"The Great Migration: 1915-1930 & The Harlem Renaissance," Oregon Festival of Music Lecture, Eugene, Oregon, August, 1993
"The Crucible of Race: Asian Americans and African Americans in the Urban Northwest: The Seattle Experience," Humanities Series Lecture, Southern Oregon State College, Ashland, Oregon, February, 1993
"Black Seattle in the 1960s: The Dilemmas of Race and Class in the Civil Rights Era," Paper Presented at the Oregon State University Humanities Center, January, 1992
"The Paradox of a `Racial Paradise': Work, Politics, and Civil Rights in Black Seattle, 1890-1920," Presentation in African American History Class, Oregon State University, January, 1992
"From `Civil Rights' to `Black Power': The Civil Rights Movement in Seattle, 1960-1970," Presented as the Ninth Annual Robert G. Athearn Lecture in Western History, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, October, 1991
"The Contemporary African Condition: An Assessment of Post Independent Africa," Keynote Address presented at the First Annual Symposium on Contemporary Africa, African Students Association, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, May, 1991
"Sharing A Common History: The Development of African American Communities in the West," Address at California State University-Sacramento, Sacramento, California, March, 1991
"African American History in the Pacific Northwest: Retrospect and Prospect," Speech given at the Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon, February, 1991
"Martin Luther King: The Quest for Legacy," Speech given at the University of Oregon Martin Luther King Observance, January 1991
Facilitator, Panel on Literature, Conference on Cultural Exchange & Artistic Quality, Morro Bay, California, May, 1990
"The Lessons of History: The Holocaust in Perspective," Presentation at Days of Remembrance: The Third Annual Civic Commemoration of the Holocaust, San Luis Obispo, California, April 1990
"The End of Silence: Black Voices in the 1960s," The Arts and Humanities Lecture Series, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, March, 1990
"Black Urban History in the 1990s: The Seattle Experience and the Reconstruction of the Past," Presentation at the University of Oregon, Eugene, January, 1990
"Martin Luther King: Of Historic Memory and Heroic Myth," Speech given at the 6th Annual Observance of Martin Luther King Day, Hancock College, Santa Maria, California, January, 1990
"Film as History: Mississippi Burning and the Reconstruction of the Recent Past," Presentation at a Special Benefit Showing of Mississippi Burning for the Lompoc Chapter of the NAACP, Lompoc, April, 1989
"Black History Month: Myths, Heroes, and Historical Reality" Presentation at the Unitarian Church, San Luis Obispo, February, 1989
"Nigeria 1988: The Paradox of Modernization," Presentation at the San Luis Obispo County Historical Society, October, 1988
"Reflections on the Legacy of the Afro-American Civil Rights Movement," United States Information Service, Lagos, Nigeria, May, 1988
"The Man, the Myth, the Movement: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King," Lecture given at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, January, 1988
"Keep the Dream Alive," Speech given at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Lagos, Nigeria, January, 1988
"Slaves and Free Men: Blacks in 18th and 19th Century Latin America," Lecture for the Latin American Students Association, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, May, 1987
"The Past Against the Present: The NAACP and the Shaping of Afro-American History," NAACP Black History Month Observance, Santa Maria, California, February, 1987
"From Myth to Reality: The Meaning of Black History and Black History Month," United Church of Christ, Lompoc, California, February, 1987
"Jewish Black Relations, Retrospect and Prospect: Reflections on the Jesse Jackson Presidential Campaign, Jewish Racism and Black Anti-Semitism," Address presented to Congregation Beth David, San Luis Obispo, California, October, 1985
"Jesse Jackson, the Democratic Party, and the 1984 Presidential Election," Address presented to the San Luis Obispo Democratic Club, San Luis Obispo, California, June, 1985
"Black Americans and Ronald Reagan: Reflections on the 1984 Presidential Election," Speech given at the Paso Robles Democratic Club, Paso Robles, California, April, 1985
"South African Apartheid, Cal Poly and Divestment," Speech given at the Concerned Campus Organizations Against Apartheid rally, April, 1985
"Five Myths Which Have Shaped the Afro-American Past," Lecture for the United Black Students Awareness Council, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, March, 1985
"Symbolism and Significance: The Search for the True Meaning of Black History Month," Lecture presented at Springfield Baptist Church, San Luis Obispo, California, February, 1985
"Challenge and Opportunity on the Frontier: Afro-Americans and the 19th Century American West," Address given at the Omaha Public Library for the 9th Anniversary Meeting of the Great Plains Black Museum Society, Omaha, Nebraska, March, 1984
"Martin Luther King and the Tradition of Nonviolence: The Legacy of the 1960s, the Challenge of the 1980s," Speech given at the Paso Robles Boys School, Paso Robles, California, January, 1983
"Martin Luther King, A Memorial," Speech given at the Multicultural Center, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, January, 1982
"Demystifying the Frontier: A Reassessment of the Black Western Experience," Address given at the 10th Anniversary Banquet of the African-American Cultural Arts Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November, 1979
"Black History in the Post-Civil Rights Era: The Quest for Relevance," Address given at Meridian Junior College, Meridian, Mississippi, February, 1978
"Afro-Americans in Minnesota and the Old Northwest," Lecture given at the St. Paul, Inner City Youth League Banquet, St. Paul, Minnesota, June, 1976
"The Great Migration: 20th Century Black Americans and the Urban Experience," Lecture at the Afro-American Cultural Arts Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October, 1975
Member, Western History Association (WHA) Bakken Award of Merit, 2015-2018
President, Western History Association (WHA) 2010-2011
President-Elect, Western History Association (WHA), 2009-2010
Member, Sara Jackson Award Committee, Western History Association, 2006-2009
Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Nevada Online Encyclopedia, 2005-
Member, Editorial Board, Journal of the West, 2005-
Board of Advisors, The Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, Seattle, April 2005—
Elected At-Large Member, Council of the American Historical Association, 2003-2006
Member, Board of Directors, Urban History Association, 1998-
Member, Local Arrangements Committee for American Historical Association
Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, January 2005, 2004-2005
Member, Committee on Affiliated Societies, American Historical Association, 2004-06
NEH Mentor for Barbara Behan, Independent Scholar, Missoula, Montana, on her project: African Americans in 19th Century Montana, 2001-02
Outside Member, Department of History Evaluation Team, California State University, Fresno, April, 2001
Member, Nominating Committee, Western History Association, 2000-
Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Culturewise: Research Journal of the National Council for Arts & Culture (Nigeria) 1999-
Chair, Nominating Committee, American Historical Association, Pacific Coast Branch, 1999-2000
Member, Ray Allen Billington Book Prize Committee, Organization of American Historians, 1999-2000
Member, Board of Directors, Urban History Association, 1998-2000
Member, Program Committee, Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association, San Diego, California, 1998
Panelist/Reviewer, National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C., (all divisions), 1979‑
Member, Advisory Board, Southern Conference of Afro-American Studies, Inc., 1981‑
Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Research Journal of the Nigerian National Council for Arts & Culture, 1998-
Mentor for Kenneth Harlan, University of Oregon PhD. candidate in History supported by a fellowship from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) through its Compact for Faculty Diversity Program, 1996-1999
Member, W. Turrentine Jackson Award Committee, Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association, June 1996-
Member, Sara Jackson Award Committee, Western History Association, 1993-1996, Committee Chair, 1995-1996
Member, History, Philosophy, Religious Studies Review Panel, Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships for Minorities Program, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., March, 1996
Member, Program Committee, Western Historical Association Annual Meeting, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1997Editorial Board, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, 1993-2000
Editorial Board, Western Historical Quarterly, 1993-1996
Reviewer, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 1992
Member, Program Committee, Western Historical Association Annual Meeting, New Haven, Connecticut (Yale University), 1992
Editorial Board, Oral History Review, 1985‑1991
Member, Endowment Committee, The Journal of Negro History, 1983‑85
Member, Program Committee for the 1983 Meeting of the Association for the Study of Afro‑American Life and History
Project Evaluator, "Oral History Project on the Great Migration, 1915‑1940," Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1981‑1984
Evaluator for Macmillan/McGraw Hill Textbook for Social Studies, 2006 Edition of California Textbooks for Grades 3-5, October 2004-July 2005. Approximately three to four million pupils in California use this textbook.
Blind Manuscript Reviews for: History of Education Quarterly, California History, Texas Western Press, Washington State University Press, University of California Press, University of Oklahoma Press, University of Nebraska Press, Pacific Historical Review, University of Washington Press, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Oregon Historical Quarterly, University of North Carolina Press, D.C. Heath and Company, University Press of Kansas, St. Martin's Press, Journal of American History, Oral History Review, Umoja: A Scholarly Journal of Black Studies, The Griot: Journal of the Southern Conference of Afro-American Studies, Nevada Historical Quarterly, Western Historical Quarterly, University Press of Colorado, Journal of American Ethnic History
Member of the National Park Service Advisory Planning Committee. Appointed by former Alaska Governor Tony Knowles, Chair of the National Park System Advisory Board, Nov. 2010- April 2013
Member, Olympia (Washington) Black History Committee, 2010-2015
Member, Advisory Committee, Northwest African American Museum, Seattle, Washington, March 2009-
Member, Advisory Panel, "'America-I-Am: The African-American Imprint on America,'' Multi-Year Traveling Museum Exhibition on the African American Experience Sponsored by The Tavis Smiley Group, Los Angeles, 2007-2009
Member, Board of Directors, Northwest African American Museum, Seattle, Washington, September 2005--March 2009
Member, Board of Directors, Idaho Black History Museum, Boise, Idaho, July 2006-2010
Member, James & Janie Rogella Washington Foundation Advisory Group,
Seattle, July 2005-July 2013
Member, Board of Advisors, Northwest African American Museum, Seattle, Washington, March 2009-
Principal Speaker, University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Donor Fete, April 2004
Member, Awards Banquet Committee, African American Graduates of the University of Washington School of Business, 2004-2005
Member, Board of Advisors, “The Warrior’s Project,” National Parks Service, Tucson, Arizona, 2003-
Member, Advisory Board, Washington State Territorial Commemoration Commission, Olympia, 2002-2004
Member, University of Washington\Seattle Breakfast Group Task Force on Education (Sponsor of the Faculty Forums for the recruitment of African American Students to the University of Washington, 2001-
Juror for MetropoLIST 150, a Survey of the 150 most influential persons in Seattle's history, sponsored by the Museum of History and Industry and the Seattle Times, September 2001
Member, University of Washington\Seattle Breakfast Group Task Force on Education (Sponsor of the Faculty Forums for the recruitment of African American Students to the University of Washington, 2001-2005)
Member, Board of Trustees, Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, Washington, 2000-2006
Member, Board of Directors, HistoryInc. Interactive History Project, Seattle, Washington, 2000-2006
Member, Board of Directors, Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas, Seattle, Washington, 1999-2002
University of Washington Advisor, Urban League African American Museum Project, Seattle, Washington, 2001-02
Member, Advisory Committee for the Northwest Black Pioneers Historical Exhibit, Valley River Center, Eugene, Oregon, March, 1997
Advisory Board, University of Oregon Humanities Center, 1995-1998
State Historical Records Advisory Board, 1994-1997 (Gubernatorial Appointment)
Member, Advisory Board, Blacks in the West Television Documentary, 1990-1992
Member, Board of Directors, African-American Vocational Institute, Aba, Nigeria, June, 1989‑1991
Member, Board of Governors, Martin Luther King Vocational Technical College, Owerri, Nigeria, February, 1989‑1995
Planner, International Conference on African Agricultural Development: Technology, Ecology and Society, California Polytechnic State University, Pomona, California, May 28‑June 1, 1985
HISTORICAL CONSULTANT\PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Historical Consultant, Power of Place Opening Exhibit, The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C., 2013-2016
Historical Consultant, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, 2003-
Principal Investigator, National Parks Service Grant of $10,000 to identify, survey and evaluate sites of potential significance associated with the themes of Desegregation and Civil Rights and important to the African American, Native
American, Chinese American, Japanese American and Mexican American communities, 2001-2002
"The National Minority Military Museum Foundation," 2000-2012
"The York Project," Video Documentary, Filmworks Northwest, Portland, Oregon, 1999-
"Forgotten Frontiers," Video Documentary, Lois Cunniff Productions, New York, New York, 1998-2000
"The Exodusters," Video Documentary, Stringfellow Productions, Denver, Colorado, 1999-
The Library of Congress History of the African Americans published jointly by Ariel Books and the Library of Congress, 1998
Portland Regional Disparity in Employment Study, Mason-Tillmon and Associates, Oakland, California, and Office of the City Attorney, City of Portland, Oregon, 1995-1996
"The Black Westerners" Film Series, Nicodemus Films, New York, New York, 1995-1996
Bosco-Milligan Foundation Survey of Portland, Oregon's African American Historic Resources, 1994-1995 which produced the document, Cornerstones of Community: Buildings of Portland's African American History
Rockefeller Institutional Grant for the Northwest Center for Comparative American Cultures and Race Relations, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, 1994-96
The Columbia Villa Oral History Project, Oregon Council for the Humanities, Portland, Oregon, 1993-96
The Great Plains Black Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 1980‑1984
The Black American West Museum, Denver, Colorado, 1980‑1985
"South by Northwest: The Second Series," Public Television Series, KWSU‑TV, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, 1979
"Blacks in the American West, II," Multimedia Exhibit, African-American Cultural Arts Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1978‑79
"Blacks in the American West, I," Multimedia Exhibit, African-American Cultural Arts Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1977
“Minorities in Focus," Radio Series, Radio Station WMOJ, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1977
"The Black Minnesotans," Multimedia Exhibit, African-American Cultural Arts Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1977
Afro-American Pavilion, EXPO‑74, Spokane's World's Fair, Spokane, Washington, 1974
Lifetime Achievement Award, Pacific Northwest Historians Guild, Presented at Seattle Pacific University, April 27, 2017
The 2015 Carter G. Woodson Memorial Award on Behalf of BlackPast.org from the National Education Association (NEA)
The 2015 Washington State Jefferson Award for Public Service, Presented by the City Club, Seattle
Honorary Life Membership, Western History Association, 2005-
Vivian A. Paladin Award, 1996-1997, Montana Historical Society
Oregon Humanities Center Research Fellowship, Fall, 1994
Who's Who in American Education, 1991-1992
Who's Who Among Emerging Leaders in America, 1990-1992
California State Faculty Support Grant, 1989-1990
National Endowment for the Humanities Travel to Collections Grant, 1988
Fulbright‑Hays Fellowship, 1987‑1988, (University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria)
Meritorious Performance and Professional Promise Award, 1986, California Polytechnic State University
Directory of American Scholars, 1982
Carter G. Woodson Award, 1980, Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History
Who's Who in the West 1980‑1986
Kent Fellow, 1974‑77
Bush Fellow, 1974‑77
Who's Who Among Black Americans, 1975‑1991
Assistant Director, "South By Northwest," Five episode series for public television. Awarded $283,000 from U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1974-1975. (Series was based on my research on blacks in the Pacific Northwest)
Principal Investigator, Blacks in the Pacific Northwest, 1972-1974, Project Funded by Washington State University, Grant Award, $5,000
Outstanding Achievement Award, 1974, Kappa Sigma Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington
Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, 1969
Certificate of Merit, Raleigh Citizens' Association, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1968
PROFESSIONAL AND HONORARY ASSOCIATIONS
Organization of American Historians
American Historical Association
Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History
Association for Asian American Studies
Black Heritage Society of Washington State
Golden Key National Honor Society
Southern Conference on Afro-American Studies (Member, Advisory Board and Life Member)
Urban History Association (Life Member)
Western History Association (Life Member)
DEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
University of Washington, Seattle
Digital History Committee, 2013-
Co-Chair, Full Professors Review Committee, 2006-2007
Chair, Associate Professors Review Committee, 2006-2007
Member, R. Tracy McKenzie Promotion Committee, 2005-2006
Chair, James Gregory Promotion Committee, 2004-2005
Chair, Nikhil Singh Tenure and Promotion Committee, 2003-2004
Member, Stephanie Camp Tenure and Promotion Committee, 2003-2004
Member, Full Professors Review Committee, 2003-2004
Member, Associate Professors Review Committee, 2002-2003
Member, Evaluation Committee, Howard and Frances Keller Endowed Professorship in History, 2002-2003
Member, Evaluation Committee, Jon Bridgeman Endowed Professorship in History, 2002-2003
Member, Full Professors Review Committee, 2002-2003
Member, Associate Professors Review Committee, 2001-2002
Member, Sasha Harmon Tenure and Promotion Committee, 2000-2001
Member, Assistant Professors Review Committee, 1999-2000
University of Oregon
Library Liaison, 1996-1997
Member, Search Committee for the Beekman Endowed Chair in Northwest and Pacific History, 1993-
Member, Tenure and Promotion Committee for Jeff Ostler, 1995-1996
Member, Advisory Committee, 1995-1996
Member, Tenure and Promotion Committee for Bryna Goodman, 1994-1995
Member, Tenure and Promotion Committee for John Theibault, 1994-1995
Chair, African History Search Committee, 1993-1994
UO Department of History Graduate Committee, 1992-1993
UO Department of History Advisory Committee, 1991-1992
California Polytechnic State University
Assigned Time Review Committee, 1989-1990
Chair, Peer Review (Tenured) Committee, 1989-1990
Budget Committee, 1988-1990
Faculty Search Committee, Modern World History Position, 1988‑89
Peer Review Committee for Robert Burton, 1987
Peer Review Committee for Barbara Hallman, 1987
Peer Review Committee for Edward Mayo, 1987
Affirmative Action Facilitator, 1987‑1989
Faculty Search Committee, Latin American History Position, 1986‑87
Curriculum Committee, 1983‑1987
Chair, Tenured Committee, 1982‑83
Chair, Faculty Search Committee, European History Position, 1983
Chair, Budget Committee, 1980‑1982
Audiovisual and Library Committee, 1979‑1980
Executive Committee, 1978‑1980
Alumni Committee, 1977‑1981
SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY-WIDE COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
University of Oregon
Ethnic Studies Executive Committee, 1995-
Chair, Ethnic Studies Program Director Search, 1996-1998
Humanities Center Advisory Board, 1995-1998
Dean's Advisory Council [Elected Member], College of Arts and Sciences, 1994-1996
President's Ad Hoc Committee to Revise the University of Oregon Race, Ethnicity and Gender Requirement, (Multicultural Curriculum Committee) 1992--1993
International College Master Planning Committee, 1992-1994
Student Member Selection Subcommittee
Curriculum Subcommittee
International Services Search Committee for Overseas Program Coordinator, Summer, 1992
African Studies Committee, (Chair), 1991-1994
Faculty Representative for African Universities, International Student Exchange Program (ISEP), 1992-
International Services Search Committee for Overseas Program Coordinator, Summer, 1992
Interdisciplinary International Program Chairs Committee, 1992-1993
Selection Committee for Underrepresented Minorities Achievement Scholarship (UMAS), 1993-1994
Tenure and Promotion Committee for Dr. Clarence Spigner, Anthropology Department, 1994-1995
Humanities Center Review Panel, 1992-1993
Intercollegiate Athletics Committee, 1991-1992
Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Freedom, 1991-1992
Ethnic Studies Committee (ex-officio), 1991-1994
California Polytechnic State University
Chair, Assigned Time Review Committee, 1990
Search Committee, Associate Director, Student Academic Services, 1989
Educational Equity Committee, 1988‑1989
Human Corps Task Force, 1988‑1989
Administrative Fellows Review Committee, 1987
Ad Hoc Committee on Class Size, Units, and Faculty Workload, 1986‑1987
Long Range Planning Committee, 1985‑1987
Latin American Studies Committee, 1986‑1987
Administrative Fellows Review Committee, 1986
Committee on Internationalizing General Education, 1985‑1986
Affirmative Action Faculty Development Program Review Committee, 1985‑1986
Fulbright Host Committee, 1985‑1987
International Food and Agriculture Committee, 1983‑1986
Affirmative Action Faculty Development Program Review Committee, 1983‑1984
Faculty Grievance Panel, 1980‑1981
Graduate Studies Committee, 1980‑1981
President's Equal Opportunity Advisory Council, 1979‑1982
Humanities Lecture Series, 1979‑1981
Faculty Affiliate, University of Oregon Center for the Study of Women in Society, 1992-1999
President, University of Oregon Association of Faculty and Staff of Color, 1991-1992
Faculty Advisor, University of Oregon African Students Association, 1989-1990
Fulbright Alumni Association, 1989‑
Elected Representative, San Luis Obispo County Democratic Central Committee, District 5, (Term, 1986‑1988)
Member, Martin Luther King, Jr. High School Memorial Scholarship Fund, San Luis Obispo, California, 1980‑1986. President of the Fund, 1983‑1985
Chair, South African Lecture Series Committee, 1986‑1987Organizer, Concerned
Cal Poly Faculty and Students Organization Against Apartheid, 1984
Co-Chair, Faculty Committee on Black History Month, California Polytechnic State University, 1984, 1985
Faculty Advisor, History Club, California Polytechnic State University, 1982‑1983
Faculty Advisor, Xi Upsilon Chapter, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, California Polytechnic State University, 1980‑1990
Faculty Advisor, United Black Students Awareness Council (UBSAC), California Polytechnic State University, 1978‑1980
Vice-president, Concerned Black Community (CBC), 1979‑1981, the black faculty‑staff organization at California Polytechnic State University
SUPERVISION OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH (1990-present)
Dissertations\Exams:
University of Washington, 1999-
Ph.D. Candidates
Quin’Nita Cobbins
Lilia Putintsev
Joseph Bernardo
Turkiya Lowe
Susan Bragg
Craig Collisson
Robert I. Cruickshank
George Tamblyn
Kim Mangum (University of Oregon)
Zanice Bond de Perez (University of Kansas)
M.A. Candidates
Marcus A. Wallace
University of Oregon, 1990-1999
Joel Rast, “Bringing the Neighborhoods Back In: Chicago's New Politics of Small-Scale Production,” (Political Science) Outside Member, 1997
Deborah Storrs, “The Social Construction of Racial Identity,” (Sociology) Outside Member, 1996
Stuart McElderry, “The Civil Rights Movement in Portland,” (History) Chair, 1994
Herman Chiu, “Oregon's Chinese and Newspaper Coverage: The Road to Acceptance" (Journalism), Outside Member, 1994
Shawn Peterson, “Loving Mothers and Lost Daughters: Archetypal Images of Female Kinship Relations in Selected Novels of Toni Morrison” (English) Outside Member, 1993
Patricia Ann McCarthy Melson, “An Investigation of Leisure Through the Life Course of Elderly African Americans,” (Leisure Studies) Outside Member, 1995
Delores Nason McBroome, Parallel Communities: African-Americans in California's East Bay, 1850-1963 (History) Member, 1990
Masters Theses:
Saheed Adejumobi, “A United States of Africa: The Influence of W.E. B. DuBois and Marcus Garvey on the Nationalist Thought of Kwame Nkrumah and Nnamdi Azikiwe,” (History) Chair, 1994
Bettie Sing Luke, “Wing Luke: His Life and History,” (Interdisciplinary Studies) Member, 1993
Jenell Frelix-Taylor, “Older African-American Women: Language Barriers to Social Services,” (Gerontology) Outside Member, 1993
April Lee Hatfield, “The Atlantic World and the Development of Slavery in Seventeenth Century Virginia,” (History) Member, 1992
William Haas Boyer, “The Cultural and Economic Analysis of U.S. Race Relations in the Thinking of W.E.B. DuBois, 1896-1940,” (History), Member, 1992
OUTSIDE THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
Ashley Green, “The Maroons of South Florida During the Spanish Colonial Era” (History\University of Colorado, PhD.) Outside Member, 1998
Michael Searles, “African Americans in the 20th Century Range Cattle Industry in East Texas,” (History\Union Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, PhD.) Consultant, 1995
COURSES TAUGHT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE
HSTAA 101 Survey of United States History
HSTAA 313: African Americans in the American West
HSTAA 322: African American History Since 1890
Hist 498: Race and Ethnicity in the American Urban West
Hist 498: African American Urban History in the West
Hist 498: The Great Debates in African American History
Hist 540: African American Urban History
Hist 540A: African American Western Urban History
HSTAA 552-553: Graduate Seminar in African American History
COURSES TAUGHT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
ES 103: People of Color in American History
Hist 250: African American History to 1890
Hist 251: African American History Since 1890
Hist 253: African Americans in the American West
Hist 325: African History to 1800
Hist 326: African History Since 1800
Hist 449: Race and Ethnicity in the American Urban West
Hist 407/507: Seminar: African American History
Hist 407/507: Seminar: African Americans in the American West
Hist 407/507: Seminar: African American Urban History