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Graduate Research Series Presents: How to be Good & Black

Kate Mason
April 8, 2021
Headshot of Ivan Mosley
Photo courtesy of Ivan Mosley

Join us for the Graduate Research Series with Ivan Mosley speaking about his research journey through Black literature in 鈥淗ow to Be Good & Black: The Legacy of the Black Codes,鈥 on . The event is free and open to the general public.

鈥淚 wanted to write a play that honored all鈥 parts of who I am as a person. The only way I felt I could do that was by connecting the modern Black experience to that in the 1860s,鈥 wrote Mosley in his abstract linking today鈥檚 Black experience to the end of slavery in the United States.

鈥淲ithout the system of slavery, a new system had to be put in place to govern the free Black folk called the Black Codes,鈥 Mosley explained. 鈥淚 believe the legacy of the Black Codes still pervades in our current consciousness鈥 [and] shapes how we think about Blackness even today.鈥 

During Mosley鈥檚 presentation, he will talk about the circumstances that led up to the establishment of the Black codes, laws 鈥,鈥 and how these same laws impact African Americans today.

Mosley鈥檚 research stems from University Libraries鈥 ALICE catalog where he located multiple publications as well as research found through the African American Studies database. He anticipates 鈥渦sing these resources for future research.鈥

Currently Mosley is working toward a Master of Fine Arts in playwriting and a Master of Arts Administration at 91探花. He has earned a Bachelor of Arts in theatre from Wake Forest University and is an alumnus of the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive and the Advanced Playwriting Program at the National Theatre Institute. In 2018, his play, 鈥淓velyn & His Brothers,鈥 was selected as a semifinalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival.

The Graduate Research Series (GRS) is collaboratively hosted by University Libraries, the Graduate Student Senate and the Faculty Senate to support graduate students in their research process and to share their challenges and successes with colleagues in a public presentation.  

For more information, or to request accessibility accommodations, please contact Jen Harvey.