This event takes place in person at Charis and on Crowdcast, Charis' virtual event platform. This event is free, but registration is required for virtual attendance. Please read the in-person event guidelines at the bottom of this page to be sure you can participate in the event. 

Charis welcomes Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar in conversation with Brea Baker for a discussion of Black Movement: African American Urban History Since the Great Migration, a landmark volume that explores the last half century of African American urban history.

The Great Migration of African Americans from the South to northern and western cities between 1915 and 1970 fundamentally altered the political, social, and cultural landscapes of major urban centers like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit, and changed the country as well. By the late twentieth century, Black people were mayors, police chiefs, and school superintendents, often at parity and sometimes overrepresented in municipal jobs in these and other cities, which were also hubs for Black literature, music, film, and politics.

Since the 1970s, migration patterns have significantly shifted away from the major sites of the Great Migration, where some iconic Black communities have been replaced by mostly non-Black residents. Although many books have examined Black urban experiences in America, this is the first written by historians focusing on the post-Great Migration era. It is centered on numerous facets of Black life, including popular culture, policing, suburbanization, and political organizing across multiple cities. In this landmark volume, Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar and his contributors explore the last half century of African American urban history, covering a landscape transformed since the end of the Great Migration and demonstrating how cities remain dynamic into the twenty-first century.

Contributors are Stefan M. Bradley, Scot Brown, Tatiana M. F. Cruz, Tom Adam Davies, LaShawn Harris, Maurice J. Hobson, Shannon King, Melanie D. Newport, Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Brian Purnell, J. T. Roane, Chanelle Rose, Benjamin H. Saracco, and Fiona Vernal.

About the Author 

Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar is Professor of History and the founding Director of the Center for the Study of Popular Music. He is the author or editor of several books, including Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (University Press of Kansas, 2007); and The Harlem Renaissance Revisited: Politics, Arts and Letters (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010). In 2018, he released Keywords for African American Studies (New York University Press), with co-editors Erica R. Edwards and Roderick A. Ferguson. Dr. Ogbar’s articles appear in the Journal of Religious Thought, Journal of Black Studies, Souls, Centro and Radical Society among other academic publications. He has been invited to write for the New York Times’ “Room for Debate” and The Daily Beast, among other publications. His recent book, America’s Black Capital: How African Americans Remade Atlanta in the Shadow of the Confederacy, released in 2023 with Basic Books, was named on the “Best Books of 2023” list from Publishers Weekly, won a 2024 Award for Documenting Georgia's History, from the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council, and was a finalist for the 2024 Book Prize from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. His forthcoming edited book, Black Movement: African American Urban History Since 1970, will be published with the University of North Carolina Press in spring 2025. Raised in Los Angeles, California, Ogbar received his BA in history from Morehouse College and his MA and Ph.D. degrees in history from Indiana University.

Brea Baker is a writer and activist whose book, ROOTED: The American Legacy of Land Theft & The Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership, was published with PRH/One World Books. ROOTED details her family’s experiences across the South and has been celebrated in The New Yorker, The Guardian, Apple Books, the New York Times, iHeart Radio’s The Breakfast Club, Harper’s BAZAAR, Ms. Magazine, and more. Brea also regularly contributes reported op-eds and personal essays to ELLE and Refinery 29 Unbothered. With a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University, Brea believes deeply in political imagination and the need for nuanced storytelling. She is a collective member of BLIS (Black Liberation, Indigenous Sovereignty) as well as the Highland Project, and is on the board of The Gathering for Justice and Black Farmers’ Market NC.

The event is free and open to all people, but we encourage and appreciate a donation of $5-20 in support of the work of Charis Circle, our programming non-profit. Donate on Crowdcast or via our website: www.chariscircle.org/donate or in person at the event.

Charis Books is a fully wheelchair accessible space with on site van accessible parking, two ramps, and additional overflow accessible parking nearby. Additional accessibility information can be found on the Accessibility page of our website. 

In-person event guidelines:

All attendees must wear a face mask during the event.

We will begin seating people at 7:00 PM ET.

This event will be live-streamed via Crowdcast. 

As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request specific accessibility accommodations, please contact info@charisbooksandmore.com or call the store at 404-524-0304.

Please contact us at info@chariscircle.org or 404-524-0304 if you would like ASL interpretation at this event. If you would like to watch the event with live AI captions, you may do so by watching it in Google Chrome and enabling captions: Instructions here. If you have other accessibility needs or if you are someone who has skills in making digital events more accessible please don't hesitate to reach out to info@chariscircle.org.

By attending our event, whether in person or virtually, you agree to our Code of Conduct: Our event seeks to provide a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), class, or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Unsolicited sexual language and imagery are not appropriate. Anyone violating these rules will be expelled from this event and all future events at the discretion of the organizers. Please report all harassment to Charis staff immediately or email info@chariscircle.org.

Black Movement: African American Urban History Since the Great Migration - Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar in conversation with Brea Baker