Sharron Wilkins Conrad
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About Sharron
Conrad's research focuses on civil rights and the American presidency. Overarching themes in Conrad’s writings include the ways that African Americans remember the civil rights leadership of Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, how these perceptions often conflict with scholarly interpretations, and what is gained by rethinking our understanding of “public” history. Conrad is a public historian who supports history and memory projects that document the African-American past in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.
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Explores how Black Americans remember the roles of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in the civil rights era. Finds that these leaders are remembered as important but not heroic on their own—real progress is seen as driven mainly by the pressure and activism of Black communities.
Explores a 1963 poll collected after JFK's death for lessons on why African Americans mourned his death so intensely. Challenges scholarly assessments of Kennedy's civil rights accomplishments and documents the genesis and resilience of his memory for African Americans.
Reviews the unique ways that Black citizens mourned the death of President Kennedy.