Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities Series - Writing the Black South

John Roberts is a professor of English and associate dean of the College of Humanities at Ohio State University, and former deputy chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Roberts has published widely in the fields of literature, folklore, and African American studies. In addition to numerous articles and book reviews, he is author of From Hucklebuck to Hip Hop: Social Dance in the African American Community in Philadelphia and From Trickster to Badman: The Black Folk Hero in Slavery and Freedom. Robert's lecture is part of the Arts and Humanities in the Environment series and will address the importance of regional identity in the literature and folklore of the Black American South, specifically in the work of Ernest Gaines.