Glasco cv

Laurence Glasco

Associate Professor

University of Pittsburgh
Department of History
3534 Posvar Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
412-648-74869(w)
412/687-6943(h)
lag1@pitt.edu

Education

B.A., Antioch College
Ph.D. State University of New York at Buffalo

Teaching and Research Background

I have taught African American history at the University of Pittsburgh since 1969.

Currently I have two teaching and research focuses. One is the history of Black Pittsburgh, upon which I have been publishing for the past decade or so. These include one book, Legacy in Bricks and Mortar: Historic Sites of Black Pittsburgh and The W.P.A. History of the Negro in Pittsburgh, plus several articles, notably “Double Burden: A History of Blacks in Pittsburgh,” and “Taking Care of Business: Black Entrepreneurs in Turn of the Century Pittsburgh.”

Black Pittsburgh
I am currently writing a biography of K. Leroy Irvis, the black state legislator and Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1977-1988. In addition, I am involved in an effort to document and annotate, via newspapers and oral histories, the recent acquisition of over 80,000 photographic images of Black Pittsburgh taken by Teenie Harris, staff photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper. Spanning the decades from the 1930s to the 1960s these photographs constitute the nation’s largest single body of visual images of black urban America. Finally, I am co-writing a book tentatively titled “August Wilson’s Pittsburgh.”

Race, Caste, and Ethnicity in World Perspective
This research and teaching interest stems from several voyages on the University’s Semester at Sea program, in which I visited Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa, Kenya, India, Malaysia, China, and Japan, where I had the opportunity to observe the dynamics of race, caste and ethnicity in a variety of settings. These experiences have been incorporated into courses and research which seek to gain a global, comparative perspective on these topics. I have published several articles on this topic, notably a comparison of the social thought and racial identity of two black intellectuals, W.E.B. Du Bois of the United States and Juan Gualberto Gómez of Cuba.

Principal Publications on Blacks in Pittsburgh Include:

"Black Migration to Pittsburgh" and "The Pittsburgh Courier and Black Migration," in Steven Reich, ed., Encyclopedia of Black Migration (forthcoming)

The W.P.A. History of the Negro in Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004)

"Pittsburgh," in Jack Salzman, ed., Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History (New York: MacMillan, 2001)(6 vols)

African-American Historic Sites Survey of Allegheny County, Final Report, August 1992, (Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, 1994. Available through the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania). Chapters: “The Rise of Blacks as a Political Power,” “Educational, Social and Cultural Institutions and Attainments,” “The Church as a Focus of Community Organization, Power, and Pride”

"K. Leroy Irvis," in State of Black Youth in Pittsburgh: Perspectives on Young African-Americans in the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Major A. Mason and Ralph L. Bangs, editors, (Pittsburgh: Urban League of Pittsburgh, 1999)

"Double Burden: History of Blacks in Pittsburgh, PA.," in S.P. Hays, ed., City at the Point (Pittsburgh: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1989)

Legacy in Bricks and Mortar: African-American Landmarks in Allegheny County (with Frank Bolden and Eliza Smith), Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, 1995.

"Rise of Blacks as a Political Power"; "Educational, Social, and Cultural Institutions and Achievements"; "The Church"; in African American Historic Sites Survey of Allegheny County, with Eliza Brown, et al., (Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1994)

"Taking Care of Business: The Black Entrepreneurial Elite in Turn-of-the-Century Pittsburgh," Pittsburgh History (Winter 1995/96): 177-182.

"Optimism, Dilemmas, and Progress: The Pittsburgh Survey and Black Americans," in M. Greenwald and M. Anderson, eds., Pittsburgh Surveyed: Social Science and Social Reform in the Early Twentieth Century, (Pittsburgh: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1996), pp. 205-220

"Carlos F. Peterson's Once Upon a Hill", Heart Quarterly (Fall 1997), pp. 14-17.

"High Culture in Black Pittsburgh: Historical Perspectives," submitted for publication.

"Samuel Rosenberg’s Hill District," in Barbara Jones, Samuel Rosenberg: Portrait of a Painter (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003)

"Some Place Special: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Pittsburgh," Freedom Corner 2001 Memorial Booklet, available through Councilman Sala Udin, and at the Freedom Corner Memorial website www.freedomcorner.org/downloads/glasco.pdf

Other Works on Blacks in Pittsburgh

"One Shot: The Life and Times of Teenie Harris," video interview and historical consultant (Premiere 2001)

"The Lion of Pennsylvania: K. Leroy Irvis" video interview and historical consultant (Premiere 2004)

"Wit, Wisdom and Speeches of K. Leroy Irvis," in progress.

Currently working on a biography of K. Leroy Irvis.

Investigations of Race Relations in Cuba Include:

"National Versus Racial Identity: Juan Gualberto Gomez of Cuba and W.E.B. Du Bois of the United States," in Wolfgang Reinhard and Peter Waldmann, Nord und Süd in Amerika (Freiburg, Germany: Rombach, 1992), vol. 1, pp. 470-484.

"From Assimilation to Integration: The Narrow Spectrum of Afro-Cuban Ideology: Juan Gualberto Gómez, Evaristo Estenoz and Juan René Betancourt," in Diaspora vol. V (1996): 97-117

(with Alejandro de la Fuente) "Are Blacks 'Getting Out of Control'? Racial Attitudes, Revolution and Transition in Cuba," in Miguel Centeno and Mauricio Font (eds.), Toward a New Cuba? Legacies of a Revolution (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1997), pp. 53-71

"Race in Three Cuban cities: Havana, Sanata Clara and Santiago de Cuba,” America Negra (December, 1998), p. 67-71.

Other Studies on Race and Ethnicity Include:

"Urban Slavery in World Perspective," for A Historical Guide to World Slavery, ed. Seymour Drescher and Stanley Engerman, (NY: Oxford University Press, 1998)

"Brazil and Race: Lessons from Bahia," Journal of Afro-Latin American Studies and Literatures II (Spring 1994): 11-22.

"Race, Caste and Untouchability: Lessons from India," Sanskriti (August 25, 1993)

"The Life Cycles and Household Structures of American Ethnic Groups," Journal of Urban History, 1 (May, 1975). Reprinted in T. Hareven, ed., Family and Kin in Urban Communities (1976), and N. Cott and E. Pleck, eds., A Heritage of Her Own. (1979).

"Ethnicity and Occupation in the Mid-Nineteenth Century," in R. Ehrlich, ed., Immigrants in Industrial America, 1850-1920 (University of Virginia Press, 1977).


Laurence Glasco Associate Professor University of Pittsburgh Department of History 3534 Posvar Hall Pittsburgh, PA 15260 412-648-74869(w) 412/687-6943(h) lag1@pitt.edu Education B.A., Antioch College Ph.D. State University of New York at Buffalo Teaching and Research Background I have taught African American history at the University of Pittsburgh since 1969. Currently I have two teaching and research focuses. One is the history of Black Pittsburgh, upon which I have been publishing for the past decade or so. These include one book, Legacy in Bricks and Mortar: Historic Sites of Black Pittsburgh and The W.P.A. History of the Negro in Pittsburgh, plus several articles, notably “Double Burden: A History of Blacks in Pittsburgh,” and “Taking Care of Business: Black Entrepreneurs in Turn of the Century Pittsburgh.” Black Pittsburgh I am currently writing a biography of K. Leroy Irvis, the black state legislator and Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1977-1988. In addition, I am involved in an effort to document and annotate, via newspapers and oral histories, the recent acquisition of over 80,000 photographic images of Black Pittsburgh taken by Teenie Harris, staff photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper. Spanning the decades from the 1930s to the 1960s these photographs constitute the nation’s largest single body of visual images of black urban America. Finally, I am co-writing a book tentatively titled “August Wilson’s Pittsburgh.” Race, Caste, and Ethnicity in World Perspective This research and teaching interest stems from several voyages on the University’s Semester at Sea program, in which I visited Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa, Kenya, India, Malaysia, China, and Japan, where I had the opportunity to observe the dynamics of race, caste and ethnicity in a variety of settings. These experiences have been incorporated into courses and research which seek to gain a global, comparative perspective on these topics. I have published several articles on this topic, notably a comparison of the social thought and racial identity of two black intellectuals, W.E.B. Du Bois of the United States and Juan Gualberto Gómez of Cuba. Principal Publications on Blacks in Pittsburgh Include: "Black Migration to Pittsburgh" and "The Pittsburgh Courier and Black Migration," in Steven Reich, ed., Encyclopedia of Black Migration (forthcoming) The W.P.A. History of the Negro in Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004) "Pittsburgh," in Jack Salzman, ed., Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History (New York: MacMillan, 2001)(6 vols) African-American Historic Sites Survey of Allegheny County, Final Report, August 1992, (Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, 1994. Available through the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania). Chapters: “The Rise of Blacks as a Political Power,” “Educational, Social and Cultural Institutions and Attainments,” “The Church as a Focus of Community Organization, Power, and Pride” "K. Leroy Irvis," in State of Black Youth in Pittsburgh: Perspectives on Young African-Americans in the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Major A. Mason and Ralph L. Bangs, editors, (Pittsburgh: Urban League of Pittsburgh, 1999) "Double Burden: History of Blacks in Pittsburgh, PA.," in S.P. Hays, ed., City at the Point (Pittsburgh: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1989) Legacy in Bricks and Mortar: African-American Landmarks in Allegheny County (with Frank Bolden and Eliza Smith), Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, 1995. "Rise of Blacks as a Political Power"; "Educational, Social, and Cultural Institutions and Achievements"; "The Church"; in African American Historic Sites Survey of Allegheny County, with Eliza Brown, et al., (Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1994) "Taking Care of Business: The Black Entrepreneurial Elite in Turn-of-the-Century Pittsburgh," Pittsburgh History (Winter 1995/96): 177-182. "Optimism, Dilemmas, and Progress: The Pittsburgh Survey and Black Americans," in M. Greenwald and M. Anderson, eds., Pittsburgh Surveyed: Social Science and Social Reform in the Early Twentieth Century, (Pittsburgh: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1996), pp. 205-220 "Carlos F. Peterson's Once Upon a Hill", Heart Quarterly (Fall 1997), pp. 14-17. "High Culture in Black Pittsburgh: Historical Perspectives," submitted for publication. "Samuel Rosenberg’s Hill District," in Barbara Jones, Samuel Rosenberg: Portrait of a Painter (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003) "Some Place Special: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Pittsburgh," Freedom Corner 2001 Memorial Booklet, available through Councilman Sala Udin, and at the Freedom Corner Memorial website www.freedomcorner.org/downloads/glasco.pdf Other Works on Blacks in Pittsburgh "One Shot: The Life and Times of Teenie Harris," video interview and historical consultant (Premiere 2001) "The Lion of Pennsylvania: K. Leroy Irvis" video interview and historical consultant (Premiere 2004) "Wit, Wisdom and Speeches of K. Leroy Irvis," in progress. Currently working on a biography of K. Leroy Irvis. Investigations of Race Relations in Cuba Include: "National Versus Racial Identity: Juan Gualberto Gomez of Cuba and W.E.B. Du Bois of the United States," in Wolfgang Reinhard and Peter Waldmann, Nord und Süd in Amerika (Freiburg, Germany: Rombach, 1992), vol. 1, pp. 470-484. "From Assimilation to Integration: The Narrow Spectrum of Afro-Cuban Ideology: Juan Gualberto Gómez, Evaristo Estenoz and Juan René Betancourt," in Diaspora vol. V (1996): 97-117 (with Alejandro de la Fuente) "Are Blacks 'Getting Out of Control'? Racial Attitudes, Revolution and Transition in Cuba," in Miguel Centeno and Mauricio Font (eds.), Toward a New Cuba? Legacies of a Revolution (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1997), pp. 53-71 "Race in Three Cuban cities: Havana, Sanata Clara and Santiago de Cuba,” America Negra (December, 1998), p. 67-71. Other Studies on Race and Ethnicity Include: "Urban Slavery in World Perspective," for A Historical Guide to World Slavery, ed. Seymour Drescher and Stanley Engerman, (NY: Oxford University Press, 1998) "Brazil and Race: Lessons from Bahia," Journal of Afro-Latin American Studies and Literatures II (Spring 1994): 11-22. "Race, Caste and Untouchability: Lessons from India," Sanskriti (August 25, 1993) "The Life Cycles and Household Structures of American Ethnic Groups," Journal of Urban History, 1 (May, 1975). Reprinted in T. Hareven, ed., Family and Kin in Urban Communities (1976), and N. Cott and E. Pleck, eds., A Heritage of Her Own. (1979). "Ethnicity and Occupation in the Mid-Nineteenth Century," in R. Ehrlich, ed., Immigrants in Industrial America, 1850-1920 (University of Virginia Press, 1977).