Dr. Zeb Baker, visiting professor of history at Georgia Southern University, will discuss "Desegregating College Football in the Jim Crow South, 1945-1975" during two lectures Thursday. His 90-minute programs will start at 10:30 a.m. and at 7 p.m. in the Raccoon Mountain Room of the UTC University Center.
"College football has become one of the most popular sports in America, especially in the South," said Dr. Michael Thompson, UTC assistant professor of history. "But aside from serving as a form of entertainment and community pride, college football has much to teach about the history of racial, social and sectional relations in this country."
Baker's lecture, he said, is designed to introduce UTC students and the Chattanooga community to important historical issues to stimulate discussions about the ongoing struggle to maintain racial diversity and equal opportunity in American higher education.
Baker, who holds a Ph.D in American studies from Emory University, is a historian currently at work on three books that explore the intersections of race and gender with the popular phenomenon that is college sports.
Admission is free. For more information, call 425-4363.