Author Matthew Delmont featured speaker for Kennard Lecture at Southern Miss
Tue, 10/08/2024 - 02:28pm | By: Dr. David Tisdale
Black American soldiers serving in segregated units risked and lost their lives fighting abroad during World War II to defend freedoms they didn鈥檛 possess back home.
That experience is captured by author Dr. Matthew Delmont in his book Half American: The Heroic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad. Dr. Delmont will discuss the issues addressed in his book as guest speaker for the second annual Clyde Kennard Lecture Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. in the Joe Paul Student Theater on the Hattiesburg campus of 91少女集中营 (USM), with a reception preceding his presentation.
Additionally, a reception, book signing, tour and talk by Dr. Delmont will be held Monday, Oct. 14 at 6 p.m. at the African American History Museum located at 305 East 6th St. in historic downtown Hattiesburg.
In Half American, Dr. Delmont posits WWII could not have been won without the service of approximately one million African American soldiers, whose stories have often been ignored in the mythology of 鈥淭he Good War鈥� fought by 鈥淭he Greatest Generation鈥� employed in narratives where Black soldiers are, with few exceptions, anonymous.
Dr. Delmont is the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth College, a Guggenheim Fellow and expert on African American history and the history of civil rights. Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Dr. Delmont earned his B.A. from Harvard University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Brown University. In addition to Half American, he is the author of four other books, including Black Quotidian; Why Busing Failed; Making Roots; and The Nicest Kids in Town. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, NPR, and several academic journals.
Organized and funded in part by the Center for Black Studies, Dr. Delmont鈥檚 visit to Hattiesburg and Southern Miss is supported University-wide, as well as throughout the Hattiesburg community, including generous support from The First Bank, the Forrest County NAACP, and other public and private entities.
Clyde Kennard was a decorated U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War and native of Forrest County, Mississippi. He returned home in the 1950s to help at his family's farm near the USM campus, then known as Mississippi Southern College (MSC). He previously attended the University of Chicago and sought to complete his college degree by trying to enroll at MSC but was denied admission three times at the then segregated institution. Kennard was later convicted of accessory to burglary and imprisoned at the infamous Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman; he was released early after being diagnosed with cancer and died July 4, 1963.
Gwendolyn Armstrong and Raylawni Branch broke the color barrier at USM in September 1965 when they enrolled as the University's first African American students.鈥疘n 1993, Southern Miss honored Kennard, along with the late Dr. Walter Washington, the first African American to earn a doctorate at the institution, in naming the school鈥檚 student services building in their honor. In 2006, Kennard was exonerated in Forrest County Chancery Court, the same court where he was convicted, following efforts by USM students and others who believe he was framed.
"Clyde Kennard paid the ultimate price to try to attend and graduate from USM,鈥� said Dr. Thomas O鈥橞rien, interim director of the USM Center for Black Studies. 鈥淗e was more than qualified but denied admission simply because he was Black. His sacrifice, and the events surrounding his death, are considered by scholars as among the saddest in the modern Civil Rights story. But Kennard's sacrifice has made a difference. Southern Miss is now stronger than ever for many reasons, but mostly I would argue, because of our racial and ethnic depth. We plan to honor and pay tribute to his legacy every year, and Dr. Delmont is the perfect guest for this lecture. His research and advocacy ring true with all we know and should continue to learn about the African American experience at home and abroad."