About the Professor

Professor Richard B. Pierce, Ph.D.   Associate Professor of History Chair, Department of Africana Studies University of Notre Dame 219 O'Shaughnessy Hall Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 Phone:  574-631-5666 E-mail:  pierce.15@nd.edu http://www.nd.edu/~rpierce/

Image by Franchella Holland, courtesy of Richard Pierce

Richard Pierce is Associate Professor of History and Chair of the Department of Africana Studies at the University of Notre Dame.  Professor Pierce specializes in African American, urban, and civil rights history, focusing on social and political protest in urban environments.  His first book, Polite Protest:  The Political Economy of Race in Indianapolis, 1920-1970, was published by Indiana University Press in 2005.  Professor Pierce's current research considers the processes by which African American families and institutions taught Jim Crow to their children, and examines the strategies and methods used by African Americans to preserve self-esteem within a system designed to dehumanize.  Reflecting his commitment to creating a dynamic learning environment for students in the classroom, he won a Kaneb Teaching Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching in 2006.