KINGSTON, R.I. – Feb. 21, 2025 – The University of Rhode Island Center for the Humanities will host historian Shannon King on Thursday, Feb. 27, as part of the center’s year-long series “Sustaining Democracy.”

King, associate professor of history at Fairfield University, will discuss “The Politics of Safety: The Black Freedom Struggle,” at 5 p.m. in the Carothers Library’s Galanti Lounge on the Kingston Campus. The free event is open to the public and will also be available online.

Author of “The Politics of Safety: The Black Struggle for Police Accountability in La Guardia’s New York,” King will explore Black resistance to racial violence outside of the South from the Great Depression to the 1990s and offer alternative ways to understand and teach African American history and Black social movements in the United States.

“Dr. King will present a historical take on race and policing, an issue of great relevance in contemporary society, particularly in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020,” said Evelyn Sterne, director of the URI Center for the Humanities. “We’re really pleased to welcome him to URI to be part of this important conversation.”

“His talk will be an important part of Black History Month programming at URI and will bring a unique perspective to the center’s year-long series,” she added. “The event should be of broad interest to students, faculty and staff in departments including history, Africana studies, sociology, criminology and criminal justice.” 

In his 2024 book, King explores the relationship between race, crime, and policing in New York City in the 1930s and ’40s, looking at the role race played in shaping New Yorkers’ perception of the dangers of urban life. While white residents and city officials saw many Blacks as potential criminals, Black residents feared local police who failed to adequately serve Black neighborhoods and committed acts of brutality on residents.

“Dr. King’s research challenges narratives about Black Americans as criminals and rioters by demonstrating how Black activists outside the South campaigned for safety and against police brutality and crime,” Sterne said. “He demonstrates how activism against harm was at the center of the Black freedom struggle.”

King is also the author of the widely acclaimed 2015 book “Whose Harlem Is This, Anyway?” His work has appeared in the Journal of African American History, Journal of Urban History, and Reviews in American History. His essays have appeared in “Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement,” “The Strange Careers of the Jim Crow North” and “Escape from New York!”

Along with the Center for the Humanities, the series is co-sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of English, Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Division of Research and Economic Development, URI’s Honors Program, Multicultural Student Services Center, and Office of the President.