University of Texas history professor Jacqueline Jones will discuss her new book, Goddess of Anarchy: The Life and Times of Lucy Parsons, American Radical. The book tells the story of the militant writer, orator, and agitator Lucy Parsons. Born to an enslaved woman in Virginia in 1851, she was raised in Texas, where she met her husband, the Haymarket martyr Albert Parsons. Lucy Parsons was a fearless advocate of First Amendment rights, a champion of the working classes, and one of the most prominent figures of African descent of her era. Her life also was riddled with contradictions—she advocated violence without apology, concocted a Hispanic-Indian identity for herself, and ignored the plight of African Americans.

Jones, who is chair of UT’s History Department and a former MacArthur Fellow, teaches courses in American history and is author of numerous other books, including A Dreadful Deceit: The Myth of Race from the Colonial Era to Obama’s America.

This book talk is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy and the Institute for Historical Studies.

Location: University of Texas, Garrison Hall (GAR 4.100), Austin