Suzanne E. Smith
Professor
African American, 20th century Cultural History, Cultural Studies, Urban and Popular Music
Suzanne E. Smith completed her Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University in 1996. Her first book, Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit (Harvard University Press, January 2000), examines Motown and its relationship to the black community of Detroit and the civil rights movement. It was awarded third in the eleventh annual Gleason Music Book Awards, sponsored by NYU, Rolling Stone, and BMI. Her new book, To Serve the Living: Funeral Directors and the African American Way of Death (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010), explores the role of funeral directors in African American life and their participation in the national civil rights movement. Her research interests include the relationship of popular culture, music, and art to social protest; the study of film and collective memory; and the history of death in America. She has also contributed to various public history projects including the film Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring for the American Experience series on PBS, and the series, I’ll Make Me A World: African American Arts in the Twentieth Century, from Blackside Productions.
Current Research
The cultural history of entrepreneurship and prosperity theology in the African American religious tradition
Selected Publications
To Serve the Living: Funeral Directors and the African American Way of Death (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010).
Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit (Harvard University Press, January 2000).
“‘Where Did Our Love Go?’: Contemplating the Life and Death of Motown and the Motor City,” Michigan Quarterly Review, (forthcoming Fall 2010).
“To Serve the Living: The Public and Civic Identity of African-American Funeral Directors” in Public Culture: Diversity, Democracy, and Community in the United States. Marguerite S. Schaffer, Editor (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008).
“‘Laid Out in Big Mama’s Kitchen’: African Americans and the Personalized Theme Funeral,” in American Behavioral History. Peter N. Stearns, Editor (New York University Press, 2005).
“‘Boogie Chillen’: Uncovering Detroit’s African American Cultural History.” Michigan Historical Review 27:1 (Spring 2001): 93-107.
Courses Taught
African American History Survey, Transatlantic Slave Trade to Present
U.S. History Survey, Colonial Era to Present
American Roots Music
American Popular Music
Medical Ethics in Twentieth Century America
Race, Justice, and Memory in Twentieth Century America
Grassroots Politics in Twentieth Century America
Civil Rights and Citizenship in Twentieth Century America
African Americans in Sports
Radio in American Society
The Civil Rights Movement and the Culture Industry
The Media in Contemporary America
The History and Culture of New Zealand and Australia
Dissertaions Supervised
Jennifer Lansbury, “Champions Indeed : The Emergence of African American Women Athletes in American society, 1930-1960,” Spring 2008.
Recent Presentations
“‘My Man's An Undertaker’: Funeral Directors in the African American Cultural Imagination,” History Workshop, Department of History, University of Delaware, March 23, 2010.
“‘Where Did Our Love Go?’: Contemplating the Life and Death of Motown and the Motor City,” Public lecture, Motown Symposium: “Growing Up Motown: Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and the Making of Motown,” University of Michigan, February 19, 2010.
“An Undertaker Like Him: Dan Young and the 1946 Moore’s Ford Lynching,” American Studies Association Conference, Washington, D.C., November 6, 2009
“Dancing in the Street: The Politics of Motown Music,” Public lecture, Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts, October 23, 2009.
In the Media
Television interview, Discussion of To Serve the Living: Funeral Directors and the African American Way of Death, C-Span-TV, George Mason University Interviews, September, 16, 2011
Radio interview, Discussion of To Serve the Living: Funeral Directors and the African American Way of Death, “The Kojo Nnamdi Show,” WAMU 88.5 FM, March 24, 2010.
Radio interview, Discussion of To Serve the Living: Funeral Directors and the African American Way of Death, “Midday with Dan Rodricks,” WYPR 88.1 FM, Baltimore Public Radio, March 9, 2010.
Radio interview, Discussion of To Serve the Living: Funeral Directors and the African American Way of Death, “With Good Reason,” Virginia Public Radio, February 6-11, 2010.
Radio interview, “Motown’s 50th Anniversary Special,” “Talking History,” Ireland Public Radio, October 4, 2009.
Print interview, “Honoring the Dead is Disturbed at Burr Oak,” Chicago Tribune, July 19, 2009.