Gerald Early brings a mystery to PBS’ History Detectives

A rare 1950s comic book, titled Negro Romance, that Gerald Early, PhD, the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters in Arts & Sciences and director of the Center for the Humanities, bought on Ebay is the focus of a mystery in an upcoming episode of PBS’ History Detectives. Early wants to know: Did black artists create this book? Who was the intended audience? Host Gwendolyn Wright gets the answers. The episode will air locally at 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, on Nine PBS. It will be repeated at 1 a.m. Thursday, July 14, and 4 p.m. Sunday, July 17. 

Gerald Izenberg explores a formation of identity for March 21 Assembly Series

Gerald N. Izenberg, Ph.D., professor of history and co-director of the Literature and History Program, both in Arts & Sciences, will examine the complex notions of identity in a series of programs, beginning with the Assembly Series lecture, at 11 a.m. Wednesday, March 21 in Graham Chapel. The Assembly Series talk is free and open to the public. Expanding on this theme, he will give a talk on “The Varieties of ‘We’: Collective Identities and their Conflicts,” for the Center for the Humanities, in which currently is a Faculty Fellow. The event begins at noon, Friday, March 23 in McDonnell Hall, Room 162. The final event, provided for the Century Series of the University’s Alumni & Development Programs, will be on “What, If Anything, Does Democracy Owe Identity?” at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 26, in Lab Sciences 300.

Center expands mission

Under the guidance of its advisory board, the International Writers Center in Arts & Sciences at Washington University is expanding its mission, and to reflect this growth, changing its name as well. In September, the International Writers Center will become The Center for the Humanities with the tag line: Dedicated to Letters and Humanistic Research and Their Presence in the Public Life. The Center for the Humanities will host a ceremony and celebration at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2, in the Ann W. Olin Women’s Building Formal Lounge.

Lorenzo Carcaterra to read Sept. 22-23

CarcaterraLorenzo Carcaterra, author of The New York Times bestseller Sleepers, will launch the 2003-04 Center for the Humanities’ Writers Series with a pair of events Sept. 22 and 23. A former reporter for The New York Daily News, Carcaterra is also the author of Street Boys, and currently serves as a writer and producer for NBC’s Law & Order.