Howard

Ashley M. Howard

Assistant Professor of History, University of Iowa
Chapter Member: New Orleans SSN
Areas of Expertise:

Connect with Ashley

(319) 467-1715

About Ashley

Howard’s research examines the interplay between violence and resistance in black America. Specifically her book manuscript (in progress) analyzes the 1960s urban rebellions in the Midwest; grounded in the way race; class; gender; and region played critical and overlapping roles in defining resistance to racialized oppression. Her research agenda is driven by the desire to provide historical perspectives on salient issues in the black community today; including the growing prison industrial complex and resurgence of anti-black violence. She serves as Book Review Editor for The Black Scholar.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

How U.S. Urban Unrest in the 1960s Can Help Make Sense of Ferguson, Missouri, and Other Recent Protests

Key Findings Brief,

No Jargon Podcast

Episode 222:
Violence in Resistance

Episode 71:
Violence in Resistance

In the News

Quoted by in "Protesters Heartened by Swift Reform, but Vow Broader Change," The Associated Press, June 9, 2020.
Quoted by in "Teen girls organized Nashville’s Largest Protest. They Joined a Long History of Black Women Activists," The Washington Post, June 8, 2020.
Guest on Profs and Pints Online, June 8, 2020.
Interviewed in "After the Rebellion: Organizing for Liberation,” Ubuntu Project," SPLOG, June 4, 2020.
Quoted by in "10 Experts on Where the George Floyd Protests Fit Into American History," Time, June 4, 2020.
Interviewed in "10 Experts on Where the George Floyd Protests Fit Into American History," TIME, June 4, 2020.
Quoted by in "George Floyd: 4 factores que explican por qué la muerte de este afroestadounidense desató una ola de protestas tan grande en EE.UU.," BBC, June 2, 2020.
Opinion: "100, 50, 25, 3: Reflections on Anti-Black Violence in America," Ashley M. Howard, The Black Scholar, July 31, 2017.
Opinion: "Milwaukee Revisited," Ashley M. Howard, The Black Scholar, August 17, 2016.
Interviewed in "Scholar of Urban Riots: Expect More Unrest," Chronicle of Higher Education, May 5, 2015.
Research discussed by Nathan Pippenger, in "Police Reform in Baltimore and Beyond," Democracy Journal, April 29, 2015.
Guest on Real News Network, September 3, 2014.
Opinion: "Why Ferguson Isn’t the Tale of Two Protests," Ashley M. Howard, The Black Scholar, August 18, 2014.

Publications

"Then the Burnings Began: Omaha’s 1966 Revolt and the Efficacy of Political Violence" Nebraska History 98, no. 2 (2017): 82-97.

Argues that violent protest does not occur in a vacuum. Historically, it has been the purview of the most desperate, the most oppressed, those with little to lose and even fewer options for recompense. Urban rebellions, both in the contemporary moment and in the 1960s, are a continuation of previous protests through extralegal channels.

"Linked Fates: Social Media as a Framing, Tactical and Witnessing Tool in the Black Lives Matter Movement" in News of Baltimore: Race, Rage, and the City eds, edited by Linda Steiner and Silvio Waisboard (Routledge Press, 2017), 120-139.

Examines how the media approached long-standing and long-simmering issues of race, class, violence, and social responsibility in Baltimore during the demonstrations, violence, and public debate in the spring of 2015