Christopher Lehman, professor of ethnic and women’s studies
Social historian Christopher Lehman’s five books have enriched the African-American historical canon.
His 2014 book, “Power, Politics, and the Decline of the Civil Rights Movement: A Fragile Coalition, 1967–1973,” argues factionalism and government sabotage diminished the efforts of the four major African-American organizations in the late ’60s and early ’70s.
His 2011 volume, “Slavery in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1787-1865,” documents the persistence of slavery in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin through the end of the Civil War. Although African American slavery was banned in the region in 1787, slaves were held here by soldiers and federal officials.
His previous books, “A Critical History of Soul Train on Television,” “The Colored Cartoon: Black Representation in American Animated Short Films” and “American Animated Cartoons of the Vietnam Era” drew national reviews and media coverage.
“The Colored Cartoon” was honored by the Association of College and Research Libraries as an outstanding academic title in 2008. View Lehman’s Amazon page.
Last summer Lehman was a Summer Visiting Fellow at Harvard University’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research through the National Endowment for the Humanities.
A professor of ethnic studies, Lehman coordinates the African American Studies minor at St. Cloud State and is the former faculty adviser for the Council of African American Students on campus.
Lehman holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Oklahoma State University. He earned his advanced degrees at University of Massachusetts Amherst: a master’s in history and doctorate in African American studies.
St. Cloud State, where Lehman has taught since 2002, is his first full-time posting.
