Jacob Ivey

Was able to lend my previously recorded voice to a new segment on the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Gainesville for #FloridaFrontiers' most recent episode. Gives me some incentive to finish this chapter of the book!
myfloridahistory.org/frontiers/ra...

I've had the pleasure to see Rochelle present her work in person at @batw.bsky.social's annual conference and I'm very much looking forward to giving this a read.

Sleepwalking into fascism That reactionary politics today lack a mass character is what makes them so dangerous.

Worth a read on the day I cover the German American Bund during the 1930s...
africasacountry.com/2022/10/slee...

ACLS Announces 2025 ACLS HBCU Faculty Fellows and Grantees Awards support research of 20 faculty in the humanities and interpretive social sciences at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Thrilled to announce that I have been awarded a grant from the ACLS HBCU Faculty awards to help fund my current book project on the anti-apartheid movement in Florida. It's a great honor and wonderful incentive to get this book done! www.acls.org/news/acls-an...

Bears matriarch Virginia McCaskey dies at 102 She inherited the Bears from her father in 1983, one of the few women in sports to hold such a powerful position.

102 is a great life. The woman loved football and her father's franchise. It would have been great if she could have seen another Super Bowl. #DaBears
www.wbez.org/obituary/202...

Divestment and lemon meringue pie: anti-apartheid movements at the University of Florida in Gainesville This paper will analyze the 40-day sleep-in and protest at the University of Florida to illustrate the growing popular support for the anti-apartheid movement amongst student and citizen activists ...

Just as a reminder, if you’d like to learn more about these anti-apartheid movements in Florida, please read my article here tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... and keep an eye out on my upcoming book with
@floridapress.bsky.social. As I work on my manuscript, I hope to post more threads like this.

It this time of overall uncertainty, protests like these remind us that change is never quick or easy, but as South African exile Sipo Mzimela said at an MDCC rally in 1987, “Apartheid is built on evil, through and through…And nothing that is built on evil can last forever.”

The overall success of these rallies was mixed. UF never fully divested, even by the end of the 1980s. UM partially divested but claimed it was not due to the protests. USF and FSU fully divested by 1989, years after the initial protests occurred on their campuses.

In September 1985, a coalition of students from UM, FIU, and Miami Dade CC staged joint protests and called for "rallies simultaneously on all college campuses in Florida.” They were joined by members of the SCLC and local anti-apartheid movements within Miami’s Black community.

Elsewhere across the state, FSU and FAMU staged multiple protests on campus and capitol grounds, including in October 1985 when Randall Robinson, founder of TransAfrica, spoke on the steps of the state house, flanked by students from both universities.

However, tent camps were set up outside of Tigert Hall and remained there for forty days. UFPD seized unattended posters, claiming they violated university rules for “permanent posting”. Another counter-protester even drove his Ford Mustang through the camp.

UF President Criser made his opinions of such protest clear in 1984, where he referred to the Kent State protests in 1970 as “Criminal insurrection, under the guise of civil disobedience, was exposed for the fraud that it is. The country returned to a state of restive normalcy.”

Of course, the use of police force was condemned, but the tactics were in no way dissimilar to what we have seen on campuses all across the country. From my research, the administration had very little sympathy for these protesters and looked at them with open scorn.

Most dramatically, on April 25th, protestors blocked Tigert Hall and manacled the doors with bike chains. University police arrested 27 people, including faculty and students. The local student paper reported students once again were “Taking It To The Streets”.

UF was one of the first major sites of protest. The Student Coalition Against Apartheid and Racism (SCAAR) worked with other student organizations to demand that UF divest some $3 million from companies directly doing business in SA. The group soon became a campus-spanning force.

It’s critical to know that, like today, college campuses in Florida are key spaces for not only protests but protestor education. In January 1985, Florida Memorial College (now FMU) hosted talks where local anti-apartheid movements built strategies for their communities and campuses.

Repost of one of my most substantial threads from Twitter.
As divestment protests on FL campuses grew last year, I thought it helpful to understand the history of similar protests that took place across FL related to the anti-apartheid movement. While not a perfect parallel, similarities remain.🧵

Beginning the academic year of 2025 with low attendance, high student uncertainty and confusion, and an ever-filling inbox of service and bureaucratic requests from admin. Looks like 2025 is just going to be nothing new; only difference I'll need to find time to finish writing another manuscript.

I really need to remember that I'm on this thing...

I'm thrilled to announce that I've signed a contract with the University Press of Florida for a monograph on the anti-apartheid movement in Florida! What started as an academic research diversion has morphed into a full-blown book project! Watch this space for more as the project progresses!

‎Florida Frontiers Radio Podcast: Florida Frontiers Radio Program #536 on Apple Podcasts ‎Show Florida Frontiers Radio Podcast, Ep Florida Frontiers Radio Program #536 - Feb 22, 2024

Had the supreme pleasure of interviewing with Florida Frontiers about my work on anti-apartheid movements in Florida. A wonderful radio program from
@FLAHistorical, and the subject matter is pretty interesting (though I am a touch biased). podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...

Struggle for a Free South Africa: Campus Anti-Apartheid Movements in Africa and the United States, 1960–1994 This book explores anti-apartheid movements on university and college campuses across Africa and the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. In the wake of the March 1960 Sharpeville Massacre in South A...

Thrilled to have been able to contribute to this wonderful volume and a great physical manifestation of the fantastic work being done in Safundi. A perfect fit for any university library--> www.routledge.com/Struggle-for...

Josephine Baker, Still Moving She entertained Europe between the wars and still inspires artists and activists now, as a new exhibition in Berlin shows.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating women of the 20th century. "Icon in Motion" is a fitting title for this exhibit.

This looks fascinating. Can't wait to have a chance to read it.

The Polaroid Revolutionary Workers Movement In 1970, Black employees at Polaroid discovered their employer’s equipment was being sold to the South African government to create ID cards and passbooks under the apartheid system and organized as...

Caroline Hunter on organizing the Polaroid Revolutionary Worker's Movement against their company's apartheid tech infrastructure

Plenaries AND extended deadlines?!? It's the conference that keeps on giving!

I really cannot overstate the deflating power of coming into a classroom that should have 60 students ready to discuss the topic for the day and finding only a dozen who don't even know what the readings were...

Having done something like 60+ applications over the last few years, I can say that 2 pages is far more the norm across the board in the US. Some are more fluid with their expectations, but most that mention a number say 2.

The Great BlueSky transition continues, complete with #BATW2024!

Envisioning African Intersex: Challenging Colonial and Racist Legacies in South African Medicine, Am... Spanning nearly four centuries of misinformation, scientific racism, and colonial legacies, Amanda Swarr’s monograph confronts the complexities of race and gend

Had the chance to review a fascinating book on African Intersex for the Journal of History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. Give it a read, but more critically, take a look at Swarr's book if you are interested in the subject! academic.oup.com/jhmas/articl...