The development of four cities in the 20th century – one of them Nashville – will be traced when Kenneth Jackson speaks at Vanderbilt University on Thursday, Oct. 25.
Jackson will speak at 6 p.m. at Ingram Hall at the Blair School of Music on the Vanderbilt campus. The event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited and will be available on a first-come, first-seated basis. A reception will precede the lecture at 5 p.m.
Jackson, the Jacques Barzun Professor of History and Social Sciences at Columbia University, will speak on “A Tale of Four Cities: New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville and Houston in the 20th Century.”
Jackson is the editor-in-chief of the landmark Encyclopedia of New York City and author of Cities in American History, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States and other books. At Columbia, he teaches courses in urban, social and military history. He also leads all-night bicycle rides, three-hour walking tours and all-day bus tours of New York City.
Jackson’s lecture will focus on planning, race, political and economic leadership in New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville and Houston during the 20th century, and how their importance changed during that time. It will serve as the keynote address of the 25th Southeastern Society for Architectural Historians conference, which will be meeting in Nashville that week.
The lecture will be recorded for podcast on VUCast, the website of Vanderbilt News Service, at www.vanderbilt.edu/news/.
Media Contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu