Lecture Series Addresses Social Justice

By Randy Weiler

Louis Woods recounts how his grandfather, Melvin Grant, served with other men on “the historical USS Mason (DE-529), the first trans-Atlantic vessel with a predominantly Black crew, successfully completing five convoys across the Atlantic in World War II.”

But when Grant returned home, he still faced historical barriers and a lack of access to fair housing that Woods discussed in his “Structural Racism and the Construction of Place” talk, part of MTSU’s Spring 2021 Honors Lecture Series titled “Social Justice.”

“It took my grandfather 21 years to buy a home, despite earning a no-down-payment, federally endorsed GI Bill home loan,” said Woods, noting that his grandfather’s story is not abnormal. “The racial barriers of the postwar era superseded his heroic military service.”

Every spring and fall, the Honors College offers an upper-division class on a topic of interest, bringing in MTSU faculty and renowned experts from beyond campus to share their knowledge during a weekly class. Usually open to the public, the lecture series was available by livestream only to class members last year, but each talk was posted to video later.

However, last fall the Honors College hosted two lecture series in the same semester for the first time, “Civic Virtue” on Mondays and “Images and Icons” on Tuesdays, both remotely.

“We want our students to engage with topics of current and often enduring relevance,” said Philip E. Phillips, Honors College associate dean. Phillips consulted with Woods about possible topics and speakers for the Social Justice lectures. Woods’ discussion was central to the series because it addressed “systemic racism and some of the ways that it continues to undermine the possibility of true ‘equality’ in our country,” Phillips added.

The federal government chose winners and losers.

Woods said that between 1934 and 1962, after investing more than $100 billion dollars into the private American housing market, the federal government helped Americans double their national rate of homeownership. But access to upward mobility was often dictated by a veteran’s race.

The GI Bill “created the modern American middle class. . . . Less than 3% of African American veterans of World War II ever benefited from the GI Bill,” said Woods, MTSU's Presidential Fellow on Social Justice and Inequality.

Louis Woods, associate professor of African American history

“Where we live influences taxes, health care, encounters with police, and wealth,” he added. “. . . A ZIP code is a destiny. Where people live is not an act of God; it was intentional. The federal government chose winners and losers."

MTSU speakers primarily addressed social justice during the other lectures in the series. Topics included LGBT+ student activism, women’s equality while working during the Depression, immigrant identity, and African Americans’ current fight for voter justice.

For more information about the Honors Lecture Series, please email philip.phillips@mtsu.edu.