Putting Ferguson in Context(s)

The panelists for “Putting Ferguson in Context(s)” are: • Christina Greer, assistant professor of political science at Fordham University in New York City. Greer’s research and teaching center on American politics, black ethnic politics, urban politics, quantitative methods, campaigns and public opinion. She is currently researching the history of African Americans who have run for executive office in the United States. Greer was a former Mendenhall Fellow in the government department at Smith. • Samuel K. Roberts, associate professor of history at Columbia University and of sociomedical sciences at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. Roberts has taught and written about the history of African Americans, public health and social movements in the United States. In July, he became director of Columbia’s Institute for Research in African American Studies, and he also serves as policy coordinator for a newly launched criminal justice initiative involving several different schools at Columbia. • James Smethurst, associate professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Smethurst has authored books on African American poetry, the Black Arts Movement and the Harlem Renaissance. His scholarly interests include African American literature, ethnic studies and gender studies. Smethurst is now working on a history of the Black Arts Movement in the American South and is co-editing an anthology with John Bracey and Sonia Sanchez. • Christopher Tinson, assistant professor of African American studies at Hampshire College. Tinson’s interdisciplinary research and teaching encompasses ethnic studies, media studies and criminal justice. He has served as a youth mentor to high school and juvenile detention centers in the Pioneer Valley. Tinson is also host of TRGGR Radio, a “hip-hop-rooted social justice” radio program.