Shana Bernstein, an associate professor of history at Southwestern, has been named a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians (OAH).  

The Distinguished Lectureship Program is a speakers bureau dedicated to American history and includes more than 400 participating historians. Lecturers are available to speak at colleges, historical societies, libraries, museums and teacher workshops.

Bernstein is one of 25 speakers selected to join the program for 2012-2013 and will be one of 16 scholars from Texas who are currently participating in the program. Speakers selected for the program have made major contributions to the field of history.

Bernstein has been a member of the Southwestern faculty since 2004 and teaches courses on race, immigration and the American West. Her research focuses on 20th century urban social reform movements. Her first book, Bridges of Reform: Interracial Civil Rights Activism in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles (Oxford, 2011) deals with collaborative civil rights activism among Jewish, Mexican, African and Japanese Americans in Los Angeles. She currently is working on a book exploring Progressive environmental justice campaigns in Chicago’s working-class, immigrant neighborhoods.  

Bernstein is offering three different lectures through the Distinguished Lectureship Program that are related to these topics: A lecture titled “Interracial Activism in the Los Angeles Community Service Organization: Linking the World War II and Civil Rights Eras,” a lecture titled “Nazis, Red-Baiting, and Civil Rights: Jewish Americans’ Emergence as Interracial Activists in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles,” and a lecture titled “The “Garbage Ladies” of the Settlements: Environmental Justice Reform in Progressive-Era Chicago.”  

“Professor Bernstein’s work on civil rights activism in Los Angeles is pathbreaking, and we’re delighted that she has agreed to serve as an OAH Distinguished Lecturer and to share her work with a wider audience,” said Katherine M. Finley, executive director of the OAH.  

The Organization of American Historians is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. Its mission is to promote excellence in the scholarship, teaching and presentation of American history, and to encourage wide discussion of historical questions and equitable treatment of all practitioners of history.  

Scholars selected for the OAH Distinguished Lecture Program are asked to donate their speaker fees to help the organization fulfill its mission.