Dr. D’Weston Haywood - Exclusive Interview - Wed, Dec 23. 2015 - 6:00pm PST

 Dr. D’Weston Haywood is a visual artist, poet, emcee, and historian of the African American experience, convinced that he should make his training, talents, and passions a resource for others. Haywood was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and attended the historically black North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina. While there, Haywood cultivated a talent for poetry and gained leadership experience as a student activist. He frequented “open mics,” won poetry slams, as well as served as the president of several student organizations, including the campus chapter of the NAACP and Student Government President. In 2005, he graduated summa cum laude with dual degrees in History and Political Science. After co-founding and leading an academic enhancement program for “at risk” young Black men, conducting research on the underground railroad for the Ohio Historical Society, and interning for then US Senator Barack Obama in Chicago, he decided to pursue a PhD. In 2013, Haywood completed his PhD in History at Northwestern University. His research centers on twentieth-century African American history, particularly, Black protest, Black cultural politics, and Black masculinity. Haywood is finishing his first book, “Let Us Make Men: Black Newspapers and a Manly Vision of Racial Advancement,” to be published by The University of North Carolina Press. Haywood spent 2014-2015 conducting research for the book as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Race and Gender History at Rutgers University. Dr. Haywood is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he couples his research and teaching with his diverse interests and artistic work.