Menika Dirkson, PhD joins us to discuss non-carceral solutions put into action by everyday people to solve poverty-induced crime from the 1930s through the 1970s — and still viable today. A historian, native Philadelphian (and G'towner), and professor at Morgan State University, Menika is the author of Hope and Struggle in the Policed City: Black Criminalization and Resistance in Philadelphia, a book on race, policing, and community activism recently published by NYU Press. To reserve a copy of the book for this event, please email or call the store.

This presentation will focus on how historic community organizations and everyday people (e.g., Quakers, social workers, college students, teachers, former gang members, politicians, and police officers) in Philly from the 1930s-1970s sought to curb poverty-induced crime and juvenile gangs in the city with nonviolent and non-carceral solutions, particularly during the tough-on-crime policing and Rizzo eras. Other topics will include the importance of maintaining Philly's legacy of community service, and supporting community organizations and institutions that provide social welfare, recreation, and rehabilitation to youth and adults as a social good that also can curb poverty and crime in the present day.

Menika Dirkson is a Philadelphia native and an Assistant Professor of African American History at Morgan State University. She received her PhD in History from Temple University. Her research focuses on police-black community relations in Philadelphia following the Civil Rights Era. She is currently researching race, policing, and graffiti surrounding the public transportation system in post-1958 Philadelphia. She lives in Germantown and regularly volunteers at the Friends of Joseph E. Coleman Library.