(via Kavita Mundle, University of Illinois at Chicago)
Dr Marcia Chatelain, Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor of History and African American Studies at Georgetown University, will be the featured speaker at the 2019 ALCTS President’s Program at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. Dr. Chatelain will discuss her forthcoming book, “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America.” The presentation will be followed by discussion.
* ALCTS President’s Program – featuring Marcia Chatelain, Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor of History and African American Studies at Georgetown University
* Monday, June 24, 2019, 10:30 AM-12:00 PM
* Washington Convention Center, Room 146A
Dr. Chatelain’s presentation will be on her forthcoming book, “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America.” In this book, she tells the story of black capitalists, civil rights leaders, and even radical nationalists who believed that their destiny rested with a set of golden arches. She tells of an industry that blossomed at the very moment a freedom movement began to wither. There are few generators of black wealth in the United States greater than fast food franchising. The days of black-owned funeral homes, insurance companies, and banks anchoring the central business district of the once labeled ‘colored sections’ of cities are long gone. In their places: McDonalds, KFC, Taco Bell, and other fast food joints flourish in the now segregated quarters of our cities, suburbs, and exurbs. We think we know the story of what the presence and impact of fast food in communities of color means. Poor people eat too much of it. The jobs it provides pay too little. Children are too enticed by it. How did we get here? How did fast food outlets spread across the South Side of Chicago, the central core of Los Angeles, and the southeastern quadrant of Washington, D.C.? How did a concept borne in the suburbs become a symbol of urban deficit-nutritional and economic? Dr. Chatelain will discuss these topics and more.
Dr. Chatelain brings a rich background to the topic. She is:
- An Associate Professor of History and African American Studies at Georgetown University.
- Writer on African American history, race, inclusive teaching, and food justice.
- A 2019 Carnegie Fellow. Project Title: First-Generation Future: A History of First Generation College Students and How to Better Serve Them Now.
- Author of the chapter, “The Politics of the Drive-Thru Window: Chicago’s Black McDonald’s Operators and the Demands of Community” in “Building the Black Metropolis: African American Entrepreneurship in Chicago (2017).
- Named a “Top Influencer in Higher Education” by The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2016.
- Member of the Georgetown University Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation, convened in 2015.
- Author of the 2015 book, “South Side Girls: Growing Up in the Great Migration.”
Creator of the collaborative #FergusonSyllabus, a list of resources for educators that could be used to facilitate discussions about the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. This syllabus has been a model for similar teaching projects.