Professor Stephen Tuck

Associate Member

Research Interests

Anti-racist protest in the USA, including connections/comparisons abroad
Religion, racism and protest in the USA, including connections/comparisions abroad
Writing US history

My research interests include modern race equality struggles in Britain and America, the relationship between religion and racism, and the writing of national history. My most recent book is The Night Malcolm X Spoke at the Oxford Union: A Transatlantic Story of Antiracist Protest (Berkeley, 2014). Other recent books include (with Nicolas Barrerye, Michael Heale and Cecile Vidal) You the People: writing American history abroad (California, 2014), and (with Robin Kelley) The other special relationship: race and rights in Britain and America (Palgrave, 2014). Previous books include an interpretative synthesis of the long struggle for civil rights in the United States, We Ain't What We Ought To Be: the black freedom struggle from emancipation to Obama (Cambridge, Mass, 2010) (a companion website with audiovisual materials is weaintwhatweoughttobe.com).

See page on Pembroke College website

or the TORCH website

Featured Publications

The Other Special Relationship: Race, Rights, and Riots in Britain and the United States ( Palgrave Macmillan, June 2015).

The diplomatic "special relationship" between the US and UK has received much attention from historians, while their shared history of racial inequality and civil rights struggles have been relatively understudied. This collection explores this other "special relationship," expanding our historical understanding of the global civil rights movement.

The Night Malcolm X Spoke at the Oxford Union: A Transatlantic Story of Antiracist Protest (2014)

Less than three months before he was assassinated, Malcolm X spoke at the Oxford Union the most prestigious student debating organization in the United Kingdom. The Oxford Union regularly welcomed heads of state and stars of screen and served as the training ground for the politically ambitious offspring of Britain's "better classes". Malcolm X, by contrast, was the global icon of race militancy. For many, he personified revolution and danger. Marking the fiftieth anniversary of the debate, this book brings to life the dramatic events surrounding the visit.

We Ain't What We Ought To Be (2011)

In this exciting revisionist history, Stephen Tuck traces the black freedom struggle in all its diversity, from the first years of freedom during the Civil War to President Obama's inauguration. As it moves from popular culture to high politics, from the Deep South to New England, the West Coast, and abroad, Tuck weaves gripping stories of ordinary black people - as well as celebrated figures - into the sweep of racial protest and social change.