Meet your Faculty Affiliates: Justin Lorts (Social Awareness, Action, and Activism)

Justin Lorts is a historian of the 20th-century U.S. and a faculty member in Gallatin. He is Faculty Affiliate for the Social Awareness, Action, and Activism stream in the ResCollege.

1. Where are you from? How long have you been in New York?

I grew up and went to college in the San Francisco Bay Area and moved to New York 10 years ago to attend graduate school at Rutgers.

2. What are your scholarly interests? What courses do you teach?

My academic background is in History and African American Studies. I'm particularly interested in the history of the Civil Rights Movement and the role that comedy (television, film, stand-up) played in this history. For the past four years I've taught a variety courses in race, popular culture and the civil rights movement at Gallatin. This spring I will be teaching a new interdisciplinary seminar that examines the role of whiteness in American history, culture and politics.

3. What are some of the things you'd like to do with your stream this year?

This year I hope my stream will be able to organize an alternative Spring Break in Latin America. Closer to home, I'd also like to take a group of students to see the Emory Douglas: Black Panther art exhibit at the New Museum.