Darius J. Young
Is a historian of 20th-century United States history. His research focuses on the interrelationship between race and politics during the long Civil Rights movement.
His first book, Robert R. Church Jr. and the African American Political Struggle, was published by the University Press of Florida in 2019 and won the C. Calvin Smith Book Award from the Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc. His current book project, Freedom Now!: Detroit and the Revolutionary Year of 1963, explores the social and political movements that led to the emergence of Black Power politics in the city.
Robert R. Church Jr. and the African American Political Struggle
Young highlights the little-known story of Robert R. Church Jr., the most prominent black Republican of the 1920s and 1930s. Tracing Church’s lifelong crusade to make race an important part of the national political conversation, Darius Young reveals how Church was critical to the formative years of the civil rights struggle.
A member of the black elite in Memphis, Tennessee, Church was a banker, political mobilizer, and civil rights advocate who worked to create opportunities for the black community despite the notorious Democrat E. H. “Boss” Crump’s hold over Memphis politics. Spurred by the belief that the vote was the most pragmatic path to full citizenship in the United States, Church founded the Lincoln League of America, which advocated for the interests of black voters in over thirty states. He was instrumental in establishing the NAACP throughout the South as it investigated various incidents of racial violence in the Mississippi Delta. At the height of his influence, Church served as an advisor for Presidents Harding and Coolidge, generating greater participation of and recognition for African Americans in the Republican Party.
Church’s life and career offer a window into the incremental, behind-the-scenes victories of black voters and leaders during the Jim Crow era that set the foundation for the more nationally visible civil rights movement to follow.
Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.,
C. Calvin Smith Book Award Winnner
Freedom Now!:
Detroit and the Revolutionary Year of 1963
Freedom Now!: Detroit and the Revolutionary Year of 1963 is my second book project, offering an in-depth exploration of Black political activism in Detroit. In that pivotal year, Detroit experienced a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement with the "Detroit Walk to Freedom," where an estimated 125,000 people gathered, culminating in Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic "I Have A Dream" speech. The book delves into the behind-the-scenes planning of the march, spotlighting Reverend Clarence La Vaughn (CL) Franklin and Albert B. Cleage. This event marked a shift in Detroit’s Black political activism, transitioning from Franklin’s traditional approach to Cleage’s more radical politics. The book also discusses how Black Detroiters responded to the police killing of a Black sex worker, Cynthia Scott, the establishment of the Freedom Now Party, the grassroots activism of organizations such as , I examine how Black Detroiters responded to the racist policies in the city and contributed to overall the Northern Civil Rights struggle.
Recent Events
Florida University Faculty Under Fire
freedom to Teach: Confronting Complex Themes in Contested Spaces, St. Augustine, FL. September 2023 - Watch
The Student as a Force for Change in the Movement
NEH Institute: Centering youth agency in the Civil rights movement. Clinton, TN. June 2023
“The State of K-12 Education in Florida
Delta Days at the Capitol. Tallahassee, FL. April 2023.
“In the Meantime in Between Time: Black Education Studies in Community + Practice
The Clearing: A Convening on Black Education Studies. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL., April 2023.
Civil Wrongs, Season 1: The Lynching of Ell Persons
Lauren faith Kebede. University of Memphis. june 2023. podcast - Listen
Black Political Activism: An Introduction to the Long Civil Rights Movement.
Bimbo Bakeries USA’s Experiencing Black History Program. February 2022.
Contact
For all inquiries, consultations, and speaking requests contact me at young.darius@gmail.com