Dr. Lawrence Little, Ph.D., associate professor of African American history at Villanova University will speak on The Quest for Black Citizenship and the Future of America on Tuesday, Feb. 17,at 7 p.m. in the Social Room of Fournier Hall. The lecture is sponsored by the History Department at Chestnut Hill College and Phi Alpha Theta, the national honor society for history.

Little’s lecture will provide a historical overview of some of the ways that African Americans have expanded the social contract in the United States. His talk will place the election of Barack Obama within the historical context of enlightenment theory, the Constitutional Convention, the 14th and 15th Amendments, the Brown decision, and the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. The lecture will also note some of the obstacles Africans Americans have overcome during this process. The lecture will also consider the importance of Obama’s presidency for the youth of America and some of the challenges that inner city black youth continue to face in the 21st century.

Little is currently an associate professor of African American History at Villanova University in Pennsylvania where he has taught since 1993. His teaching areas include: African American History, American History, Racism and Race Relations, Civil Rights, U.S. Foreign Policy, and World History.

Little has been published in The North Star, The Journal of Asian and African Studies and The Western Journal of Black Studies. His book, Disciples of Liberty: The African Methodist Church in the Age of Imperialism, 1884-1916, examines African American reactions to global events and issues at the turn of the century. He is currently exploring the role of black line officers during the Philippine-American War from 1899-1903.