Prof. William Van Deburg
William L. Van Deburg is
a historian of the African-American experience who offers classes on both antebellum
southern slavery and on contemporary black popular culture. In addition to the
articles and reviews which have appeared in academic publications such as the
Journal of Popular Culture, Journal of American History, Historian, Journal
of Southern History, and African American Review, he has contributed to a number
of anthologies, classroom texts, and reference works. Appointed Evjue-Bascom
Professor in 2003, he has written or edited seven book-length studies.
Education
Ph.D. Michigan State University
1973
M.A. Michigan State University 1971
B.A. Western Michigan University 1970
Books
Hoodlums: Black Villains and Social Bandits in American
Life
Utilizing data drawn from traditional sources as well as from Hollywood films,
song lyrics, and pulp fiction, Hoodlums (University of Chicago Press,
2004) probes the historical connection which European-Americans have made between
physical and spiritual darkness. It also demonstrates how African-Americans
have worked to reconceptualize resulting stereotypes through the celebration
of colorfully insurgent figures known as social bandits. This interrogation
of cultural projection and reception reveals that both the villainization of
blacks and the valorization of black villains have contributed importantly to
our nation’s inability to transform racial relationships. Archetypal figures
examined include black slaveholders and frontier outlaws; mobsters, youth gang
members, and prison inmates; blaxploitation film stars and hip-hop musicians.
Black Camelot: African-American Culture Heroes in Their Times,
1960 - 1980 
Black Camelot (University of Chicago Press, 1997) examines the creation
and reception of four distinctive popular cultural embodiments of the African-American
heroic: the competitive athlete; blues, jazz, and soul musician; urban "badman";
and "super hero" detective. Van Deburg maintains that these pop culture icons
are more than mere entertainers or celebrities. Mirroring the folk soul, they
serve as activist role models and work to discredit harmful stereotypes. Unique,
race-specific symbols of self- definition and empowerment who nevertheless are
cheered on by significant constituencies within the mainstream, the black heroes
"translate experience" within a symbolic universe and are said to have a key
role to play in the mediation of contemporary cultural affairs.
New Day in Babylon: The Black Power Movement
And American Culture, 1965-1975 
In New Day in Babylon (University of Chicago Press, 1992), Van Deburg
offers a history of the Black Power movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s
and analyzes its defining principles and continuing significance in American
cultural affairs. Here, Black Power is conceptualized as a revolt rooted in
African-American culture and in the psychologically liberating themes which
perculated through all manner of activist expression during these tumultuous
years. Individual chapters trace the movement's self-defining ethic as it coursed
through politics and economics; language and clothing styles; popular music,
literature, and drama.
Slavery & Race in American Popular Culture
An earlier study, Slavery & Race in American Popular Culture (University
of Wisconsin Press, 1984), examines the works of numerous novelists, historians,
poets, filmmakers, and dramatists in order to expose the cultural underpinnings
of contemporary racial attitudes and divisions. Van Deburg's synthesis of race-specific
images embedded in the popular culture reveals a persistent dichotomy between
white- and black-authored representations of both black slavery and black humanity.
The Slave Drivers: Black Agricultural Labor Supervisors In the
Antebellum south 
In The Slave Drivers (Oxford University Press, 1988), Van Deburg provides
a decidedly revisionist interpretation of the black plantation foremen of the
antebellum South. Refuting unfavorable stereotypes of the black agricultural
supervisors, the monograph holds that many drivers identified not with the white
planters but with their fellow bondsmen. Consequently, these "men in the
middle" were neither psychologically destroyed nor turned into sadistic
oppressors by their difficult and tension-filled role as a member of the whites'
supervisory elite.
Editorial projects
Modern Black Nationalism: From Marcus Garvey to Louis Farrakhan
Van Deburg's Modern Black Nationalism (New York University Press, 1997)
is a 380 page documentary anthology which charts the richness and diversity
of black nationalist belief and expression from the founding of Marcus Garvey's
Universal Negro Improvement Association to the present day. Among the 53 edited
documents are selections from Mumia Abu-Jamal, Molefi Asante, Amiri Baraka,
Eldridge Cleaver, Louis Farrakhan, Maulana Karenga, Elijah Muhammad, and Assata
Shakur. Sixty pages of commentary provide context and historical background.
African American Nationalism
Part of the 30-volume Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience series,
this online resource (ProQuest, 2005) includes an 8,000 word introductory essay,
some two dozen digitized journal articles, as well as a timeline, glossary,
research bibliography, and links to an extensive multimedia library.
Selected publications:
"Black Power in Sports,” in Black America: Zur Geschichte der
Afro-Amerikaner, ed. Sophie Bade (dtv, 2004). Collection also contains
chapters by Grace Hale, Vincent Harding, Robin Kelley, Albert Raboteau, and
Tricia Rose.
“Black Power and Culture,” in The Civil Rights Movement,
ed. Jack E. Davis(Blackwell, 2001). Collection also contains chapters by Adam
Fairclough, Raymond Gavins, Hugh Davis Graham, Patricia Sullivan, and Thomas
Sugrue.
"Villains, Demons, and Social Bandits: White Fear of the Black Cultural Revolution,”
in Media, Culture, and the Modern African American Freedom Struggle,
ed. Brian Ward (University Press of Florida, 2001). Collection also contains
essays by Julian Bond, David Chappell, Allison Graham, Trudier Harris, and Scot
French.
Forthcoming publications:
"African-American Activism
in the West," in Speaking Out with Many Voices, ed. Heather Ann
Thompson (Prentice Hall); "White Conspiracies Against Black Empowerment,"
in Cahiers de Recherches Afro-Americaines (Presses Universitaires Francois-Rabelais)
Interests
Race in American History
Popular Culture/Film Studies
Black Power Movement
Courses Taught
Afro-American Studies
231:
Introduction to Afro-American History
Afro-American Studies 303:
Blacks, Film and Society
Afro-American Studies 467:
Slavery in the American South
Afro-American Studies 635:
Afro-American History to 1900
Degrees
Bachelor
of Arts
Master
of Arts
Ph.D.
minor
Courses
Faculty and
staff
Faculty
members
Teaching assistants
Administrative
staff
Master's program
application
Library
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