Book Discussion of The Underground Railroad Led by Noelle Morrissette

A book discussion of Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad will be held on Thursday, March 1, 2018 at Weatherspoon Art Museum. A pre-talk reception begins at 6:30 p.m. and the book discussion begins at 7 p.m. The first 10 attendees will receive a complimentary copy of The Underground Railroad. The event is free and open to the public. Noelle Morrissette, UNCG Associate Professor of English will lead the book discussion in conjunction with the exhibition of work by Sanford Biggers. 

Whitehead’s research for his novel included content from the Digital Libary on American Slavery, an online resource that was created at UNCG and is part of the digital scholarship collection. The author used images of runaway slave advertisements in the book, which are also part of the Digital Library on American Slavery. View the collection at https://library.uncg.edu/slavery/ 

Broadly interested in poetry and poetics, biography and autobiography, and gender and sexuality, Morrissette uses multiple approaches to literary study. Her research includes African American and American literature, inclusive of Black popular culture, visual and sound arts and literary history. She is the author of James Weldon Johnson’s Modern Soundscapes, 1900-1938 (2013) and serves as an affiliate faculty member in the UNCG African American and African Diaspora Studies Program. 

This program is co-sponsored by the Friends of the UNCG Libraries and the Weatherspoon Art Museum with support by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources in conjunction with the exhibition, Sanford Biggers, on view December 16, 2017 through April 8, 2018.