This MLK Jr Week, SCARC hosted the event “African Americans Against the Bomb” featuring longtime SCARC researcher, OSU instructor, and activist Dr. Linda Marie Richards.
Over 30 people were in attendance to hear Dr. Richards give a lecture featuring the histories of Indigenous Peoples and African Americans who were anti-nuclear weapons activists. She led a discussion about human rights and the 2017 UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, provided an update on the progress for the Treaty, and shared some of the arguments used in the past by Indigenous and African American leaders to “ban the bomb.” She then opened the space to facilitate conversation and listen to concerns among participants about social justice and the current nuclear arms race.
Richards is a historian of science and is currently working on her book manuscript, “Human Rights and Nuclear Wrongs.” She is the Co-PI on the National Science Foundation grant, “Nuclear Environments and the Downwinders Case” and teaches for the School of History, Philosophy and Religion.
For more information about this fascinating topic, check out the 2015 book African Americans Against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement by Vincent J. Intondi.
Check out the event pics below!
Dr. Linda Marie Richards
Attendees in Discussion and Viewing Archival Documents
Archival Documents from SCARC’s History of Science and OMA Collections
Dr. Richards Speaking with an Attendee and Additional Materials for Attendees
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