A City Within a City: Selma, Montgomery, Grand Rapids?

It is no accident that I have chosen to highlight two very unique events surrounding the struggle for civil rights in America this week.

One — Dustin Lance Black’s newest stage play 8 — is about an event happening in real time and is really too fresh to produce the scholarly work that will surely follow a decade from now. The other is a look at African American history keenly focused on Grand Rapids’ role in the struggle for freedom, brought to us by Todd Robinson, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Nevada. 

On Thursday night, Robinson will be in town to discuss his new book, A City Within a City: The Black Freedom Struggle in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Much has been written about hot centers of the 1960s civil rights struggle like Selma, Greensboro, and Montgomery, but mid-level cities’ struggles have often been only told via the headlines of an area’s newspapers.

Robinson will be in Grand Rapids to share insights from this eye-opening book about the second-class life created for our African American community in a place often referred to as a model city as far back as the early 19th century.

Through Robinson’s pen, we are able to read in one place this history that is a big part of who we are today, as well as a thoughtful work that provides a blueprint to patterns long set in place before many of us were born.

And while many of these stories have yielded advances in a positive way, the opportunity to look at a mid-sized city’s life during a period of time when the rest of the country was also in the throes of a changing landscape is a rare book indeed, as it provides more than just a snapshot of what was, but also what could be a truly great American city.

Robinson’s lecture will be held at the Grand Rapids Public Library and is a part of their ambitious Black History Month programming.

Admission: Free