University Of Memphis's Hooks Institute To Host Pulitzer Prize Winner Marcia Chatelain For National Book Award Lecture 

Press release from the University of Memphis:

January 31, 2022

The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis will host Marcia Chatelain, winner of the 2020 Hooks National Book Award for her work “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America,” on Tuesday, Feb. 8, at 6 p.m. The event will be livestreamed on the Hooks Institute's Facebook page.

“Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America” investigates the untold history of the cooperation among fast-food companies, politicians, civil rights leaders and black entrepreneurs in the years following the 1960s civil rights movement. This untold history looks at how the prevalence of fast-food restaurants in Black communities today resulted from a push by these groups for what they saw as an economical solution to racial disparities in America’s Black communities — the franchising of fast-food restaurants in black neighborhoods by Black people. The book illuminates the power of Black-owned franchises in a larger freedom struggle while also explaining how corporations, such as McDonald's, have deprived genuine wealth in Black urban communities.

This event is co-sponsored by the following University of Memphis partners: African and African American Studies Program, Department of English, Department of History and the Marcus Orr Center for the Humanities.

While this event is free and open to the public, attendees are encouraged to RSVP here.

This press release was produced by the University of Memphis. The views expressed here are the author’s own.