A lecture taught by West Virginia University history professor Krystal D. Frazier is featured on C-Span 3’s American History TV.

American History TV features a weekly series called “Lectures in History,” with full-length lectures from various instructors at universities across the United States.

As part of this series, Frazier, assistant professor of history and Africana Studies coordinator, and her class discuss the generation of individuals who lived through the 1955 brutal slaying of 14-year-old Emmett Till in a small Mississippi Delta town. The events surrounding his murder, and the subsequent acquittal of the two white men charged, are credited with helping spark the Civil Rights Movement.

The “Till Generation” –a generation inspired to commit their lives to social change, also grew up during a time when the black community was in the midst of the Great Migration.

The Great Migration, or the relocation of more than 6 million African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest and West from 1916 to 1970, had a huge impact on urban life in the United States. Driven from their homes by unsatisfactory economic opportunities, harsh segregationist laws, and racial terrorism many blacks headed north, where they took advantage of the need for industrial workers that arose during the First World War.

“To have my teaching recognized for this kind of show is encouraging,” Frazier said.

“I hope that through this avenue, I can encourage people to explore history more and to recognize that it doesn’t have to be boring in the ways they might have defined past experiences with historical inquiry.”

“Lectures in History” airs on C-SPAN 3 at 8 p.m. and 12 a.m. eastern time each Saturday, and at 1 p.m. eastern time each Sunday.

C-SPAN began C-SPAN3 operations in January 2001 as a digital service. C-SPAN3 is currently available in 43 million digital cable TV households and is streamed live online at C-SPAN.org

For more information, please contact Frazier at (304) 293- 9309 or by email at Krystal.Frazier@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

as/07/24/15

CONTACT: Devon Copeland, Director of Marketing and Communication, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, West Virginia University, 304-293-6867, Devon.Copeland@mail.wvu.edu

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