Labor, Ethnic Studies Historian to Present Hartman Hotz Lecture

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Michael K. Honey

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Michael K. Honey, professor of labor, ethnic studies and American history at the University of Washington, Tacoma will discuss the life of John Handcox, an Arkansas-born African American labor organizer and folk singer. Honey will also perform some of Handcox’s songs.

The free event is at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, in Giffels Auditorium and is part of the Hartman Hotz Lectures in Law and Liberal Arts.

Honey combines scholarship with civic engagement and is noted for his extensive use of oral history, deep archival research and vibrant writing style. He teaches African American, labor, and southern history, and he specializes in work on Martin Luther King Jr.

He has written several award-winning books including Sharecroppers Troubadour: John L. Handcox, the Southern Tenanat Framers’ Union, and the African American Song Tradition, Black Workers Remember: An Oral History of Unionism, Segregation and the Freedom Struggle and Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights: Organizing Memphis Workers.

Honey holds the Fred T. and Dorothy G. Haley Endowed Professorship in the Humanities at the University of Washington, Tacoma and previously served as the Harry Bridges Chair of Labor Studies and as president of the Labor and Working-Class History Association.

Honey received a doctorate in history from Northern Illinois University, a Master of Arts from Howard University and a Bachelor of Arts from Oakland University.

Hotz Lecture Series is sponsored by the department of history in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, the University of Arkansas School of Law and the Hartman Hotz Trust Committee. Dr. and Mrs. Palmer Hotz of Foster City, Calif., established the University of Arkansas Hartman Hotz Lectures in Law and Liberal Arts to honor the memory of his brother, Hartman Hotz.

Hartman Hotz was a graduate in history from Fulbright College. After graduating from Yale University Law School, he joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas School of Law, were he made significant contributions to the study of law.