John Coggeshall to Present Anthropology Lecture

WOOSTER, Ohio – John Coggeshall, professor of anthropology at Clemson University, will present “You’d Better Learn Your History!: Challenges to an African-American Presence in Southern Appalachia,” on Monday, Oct. 15, at The College of Wooster. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7 p.m. in Lean Lecture Room of Wishart Hall (303 E. University St.).

Coggeshall’s presentation will focus on his recent publication “Liberia, South Carolina,” which discusses an enclave community in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains founded by freed slaves in 1865. This intimate history tells the story of five generations of the Owens family, chronicling their struggles through slavery, Reconstruction, the Jim Crow era, and the desegregation of the state. It documents the community’s 150-year history of resistance to white oppression, while offering a new way to understand the symbolic relationship between residents and the land they occupy.

He received a bachelor of arts degree and master of arts degree from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Ph.D. from the Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Coggeshall’s lecture is sponsored by the department of sociology and anthropology, as well as the departments of Africana studies, cultural events, and history.

Additional information is available by phone 330-263-2129 or sschuch@wooster.edu.

Posted in Event, News on October 10, 2018.