Picturing Black History

Photographs and stories that changed the world

A collaboration of     and    

Francis Gourrier Jr.

Dr. Francis Gourrier Jr. is a teacher-scholar and Assistant Professor of American Studies and History at Kenyon College. There, he is also a faculty affiliate in the African Diaspora Studies program. His teaching and research interests are focused on the Civil Rights era; education and student activism; and Black migration in the 20th Century. He received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Content by Francis Gourrier Jr.

Graffiti covers the walls of the hotel room of Mark Essex.

The Writings of Mark Essex

Initially written off as “crazy,” the New Orleans Sniper’s ideas reflected a more widely held sentiment of rage among Black youth.