13th Annual Paul Lyons Memorial Lecture

Galloway, N.J. 鈥 The Master of Arts in American Studies program is set to host the 13th annual Paul Lyons Memorial Lecture Series on March 28 at 4:30 p.m. in the Campus Center Theatre.

The speaker for this year鈥檚 lecture is Donald Yacovone, author of 鈥淭eaching White Supremacy: America鈥檚 Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of Our National Identity,鈥 which has been nominated for a .

His talk, 鈥淭eaching White Supremacy,鈥 will examine how the phenomenon of white supremacy has been embedded in American history textbooks since the beginning of public education. The legacy of this is now being seen and continues to inform today鈥檚 debates over Critical Race Theory, book bans and more.

Yacavone is a lifetime fellow for the located at Harvard University. He is also a winner (along with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.) of the for their six-part documentary series, 鈥溾

About Paul Lyons

Paul Lyons was a professor of Social Work in the School of Social & Behavioral Sciences. He became a faculty member in 1980 and published five books during his career, including 鈥淧hiladelphia Communists, 1936-1956鈥 (1982) and 鈥淐lass of 鈥66: Living in Suburban Middle America in 1994鈥 (1996). Lyons also played the saxophone and clarinet, which led to him organizing 鈥淧rofapalooza,鈥 a 2009 fundraising concert and faculty member performance at the House of Blues in Atlantic City.

The University (then college) established the lecture series with American historian Eric Foner of Colombia University as its inaugural speaker in 2010, a year after he passed. Robert Gregg, then dean of the School of Arts & Humanities, discussed Lyons鈥 legacy prior to the lecture series in 2010. 

Paul Lyons somewhere near the Arts & Sciences Building, date unknown.
Paul Lyons somewhere near the Arts & Sciences Building, date unknown. 

鈥淲hat struck one about Paul was the range of his accomplishments and the breadth of his interests. He was the quintessential Stockton faculty member, one who embraced the ideas of interdisciplinary study and exploration.鈥