UC Berkeley News
Press Release

UC Berkeley Press Release

Popular professor and esteemed historian to deliver last lecture

– MEMO TO REPORTERS
ATTENTION: Reporters and editors
Renowned UC Berkeley historian and student favorite gives last lecture

Leon Litwack, a national expert on African American history and an extremely popular University of California, Berkeley, history professor, will deliver his last classroom lecture on Monday, May 7.

Litwack, 77, is retiring from UC Berkeley at the end of this semester after having taught on campus for 43 years. His undergraduate lecture courses, U.S. history since 1865 and African American history, have nearly always been oversubscribed with eager students.

In March, UC Berkeley students named Litwack their favorite professor and presented him with the Golden Apple Award. A full press release on that award is available online at: https://newsarchive.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/03/21_litwack.shtml. Litwack has also been chosen by the Department of History as keynote speaker at its departmental commencement on Thursday, May 17, in Zellerbach Auditorium.

Litwack's most famous book is "Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery," which won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for history. Litwack is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a former president of the Organization of American Historians, the major professional organization for specialists in U.S. history

History Department Chair David Hollinger describes Litwack as one of the most effective and beloved undergraduate teachers ever to lecture at UC Berkeley.

Litwack's last class, History 7B (U.S. History since 1865), will take place from 11 a.m. to noon in Wheeler Hall auditorium. Camera crews and still photographers must set up in the back of the auditorium, and the only opportunity to capture audience shots from the aisles will be from 11 to 11:10. Once the lecture begins at 11:10, camera crews and photographers must stay in the rear of the auditorium. Broadcast media must register in advance for the event by 3 p.m. this Friday, May 4 with Roxanne Makasdjian at (510) 642-6051 in Media Relations.

Litwack is available for interviews and can be reached at (510) 524-5515. For more information on covering Litwack's last UC Berkeley lecture, contact the UC Berkeley Media Relations office at (510) 642-3734.

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