CAMILLE F. FORBES
Author * Historian * Performer

EVENTS

APPEARANCES


SEPTEMBER 7, 2008
On-air with Gary Shapiro, "From the Bookshelf"

KUSP 88.9 FM Santa Cruz, CA



JULY 25, 2008, 1 PM
Oceanside, CA
MiraCosta College
LIFE (Learning is For Everyone)


INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS, a talk based on the book.




APRIL 29, 2008, 7-8:30 PM
San Diego, CA
Grossmont College
Department of Political Economy, Rm 220

Political Economy Week

A talk on Bert Williams, the politics of blackface, and the relationship of politics to art during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.




APRIL 19, 2008, 7 PM
La Jolla, CA
D.G. Wills Books

7461 Girard Avenue

INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS book talk and signing.




APRIL 7, 2008, 6:30-8:00 PM
New York, NY
CUNY Graduate Center, The Skylight Room

"Blackface: Examining the Minstrel Tradition"

This panel discussion will bring together scholars and writers to examine the influence of the wildly popular and deeply reviled art of minstrelsy on American culture.

Participants will include Camille F. Forbes, Assistant Professor of African-American Literature at UCSD, and author of INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS: Burnt Cork, Broadway and the Story of America's First Black Star; Eric Lott, Professor of English, the University of Virginia, and author of LOVE AND THEFT: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class; Mel Watkins, author of STEPIN FETCHIT: The Life and Times of Lincoln Perry; and Greg Tate, author of EVERYTHING BUT THE BURDEN: What White People Are Taking From Black Culture. Moderated by Gary Giddins. Giddins is the author of nine books, including VISIONS OF JAZZ: The First Century, for which he won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism.





APRIL 7, 2008, 12:30 PM
New York, NY
The Ziegfeld Club


INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS: BURNT CORK, BROADWAY, AND THE STORY OF AMERICA'S FIRST BLACK STAR, a talk based on the book.




MARCH 5, 2008, 2 PM
San Marcos, CA
San Marcos Public Library

2 Civic Center Drive

INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS talk and book signing.





FEBRUARY 27, 2008, 7 PM
Mission Valley
San Diego, CA
Borders

1072 Camino del Rio

INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS talk and book signing.





FEBRUARY 25, 2008, 6:30 PM
Vista, CA
Vista Public Library

700 Eucalyptus Avenue

INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS talk and book signing.





FEBRUARY 25, 2008, 10:15-11:45 AM
San Diego, CA
OASIS

Macy's Mission Valley

A discussion of the leading exponents of the Harlem Renaissance, from poets and prose writers to visual artists and musicians. In addition to the lecture, a short discussion of comic legend, Bert Williams (1874-1922), the Broadway and vaudeville star featured in INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS: BURNT CORK, BROADWAY, AND THE STORY OF AMERICA'S FIRST BLACK STAR.





FEBRUARY 23, 2008, 2 PM
Riverside, CA
Riverside Public Library

3581 Mission Inn Avenue

INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS book talk and signing co-sponsored by the African American Historical Society of Riverside.





FEBRUARY 20, 2008, 4 PM
University of California, Riverside
Center for Ideas and Society

1150 University Avenue, 227 Highlander Hall Building C

INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS: BURNT CORK, BROADWAY, AND THE STORY OF AMERICA'S FIRST BLACK STAR, a guest lecture based on the book.

Book signing follows.






FEBRUARY 18, 2008, 7:30 PM
Los Angeles, CA

Sponsored by Eso Won Books
at Nate Holden Performing Arts Center
4718 W. Washington Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90016


An interview by Miles Krueger, noted American theater maven and head of the nonprofit Institute of the American Musical, the largest collection of musical theater and film archives and artifacts. Book signing follows.





FEBRUARY 13, 2008, NOON
University of California, Los Angeles
Ralph J. Bunche Center Authors' Series

135 Haines Hall

Lost though he is to the annals of popular culture, Bert Williams was, according to critics of his time, nothing less than “The Greatest Comedian on the American Stage.” The black Bahamian performer (1874-1922) became the leading comedian in America in a career that spanned more than thirty years. Even as he faced the baffling rejection of an often rigidly segregated society, Williams also triumphed, earning the adulation of blacks and whites, alike. This talk introduces Williams, discussing both his extraordinary work and the context in which he performed it.

Book signing follows.




FEBRUARY 7, 2008, 6:30 PM
Oakland, CA
Marcus Book Stores

3900 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way

INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS talk and signing.






FEBRUARY 7, 2008, 11 AM
University of California, Berkeley

Valley Life Sciences Building, Room 2040

Guest lecture, "Bert Williams: Onstage and Offstage."
This talk introduces the onstage and offstage lives of the singular black Bahamian comedian.

Book signing follows.





FEBRUARY 2, 2008, 6 PM
New York, NY
MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art

11 West 53 Street
Titus 2 Theater

Bert Williams Screening at MoMA
Short films Fish and A Natural Born Gambler, and sneak preview of a Bert Williams Feature.





FEBRUARY 2, 2008, 2 PM
New York, NY
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

40 Lincoln Center Plaza
Bruno Walter Auditorium

INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS: BURNT CORK, BROADWAY, AND THE STORY OF AMERICA'S FIRST BLACK STAR, a lecture based on the book.






JANUARY 30, 2008, 7 PM
Springfield, NJ
Barnes and Noble
240 Route 22 West

INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS talk and signing.





JANUARY 26, 2008, 3 PM
Bronx, NY
Woodlawn Cemetery

Webster Avenue & E. 233rd Street

INTRODUCING BERT WILLIAMS: BURNT CORK, BROADWAY, AND THE STORY OF AMERICA'S FIRST BLACK STAR. A talk based on the book.

Book signing follows.

















Copyright © 2007-2009 Camille F. Forbes. All Rights Reserved.

RADIO:

Sept. 7, '08
On-air:
"From the Bookshelf"
with Gary Shapiro
KUSP 88.9 FM, Santa Cruz


PODCASTS:




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