51ĀŅĀ×

Join us for the Graduate Research Series with Ivan Mosley speaking about his research journey through Black literature in ā€œHow to Be Good & Black: The Legacy of the Black Codes,ā€ on . The event is free and open to the general public.

ā€œI wanted to write a play that honored allā€¦ parts of who I am as a person. The only way I felt I could do that was by connecting the modern Black experience to that in the 1860s,ā€ wrote Mosley in his abstract linking todayā€™s Black experience to the end of slavery in the United States.

ā€œWithout the system of slavery, a new system had to be put in place to govern the free Black folk called the Black Codes,ā€ Mosley explained. ā€œI believe the legacy of the Black Codes still pervades in our current consciousnessā€¦ [and] shapes how we think about Blackness even today.ā€ 

During Mosleyā€™s presentation, he will talk about the circumstances that led up to the establishment of the Black codes, laws ā€œ,ā€ and how these same laws impact African Americans today.

Mosleyā€™s research stems from University Librariesā€™ ALICE catalog where he located multiple publications as well as research found through the African American Studies database. He anticipates ā€œusing these resources for future research.ā€

Currently Mosley is working toward a Master of Fine Arts in playwriting and a Master of Arts Administration at 51ĀŅĀ×. He has earned a Bachelor of Arts in theatre from Wake Forest University and is an alumnus of the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive and the Advanced Playwriting Program at the National Theatre Institute. In 2018, his play, ā€œEvelyn & His Brothers,ā€ was selected as a semifinalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival.

The Graduate Research Series (GRS) is collaboratively hosted by University Libraries, the Graduate Student Senate and the Faculty Senate to support graduate students in their research process and to share their challenges and successes with colleagues in a public presentation.  

For more information, or to request accessibility accommodations, please contact Jen Harvey.