Local Author Celebration Series: Amy Forss
Join us in the Joslyn Castle Carriage House on June 5 for an evening with local author, Dr. Amy Forss!
Dr Amy Forss has a PhD in African American History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has been teaching History and Art History at Metropolitan Community College for over twenty years. Forss, who serves as a US Fulbright Scholar and Fulbright Alumni Ambassador, engages audiences in topics covering Women's History, Art History, and World History. Interviewed by C-SPAN for her award-winning biography, Black Print with a White Carnation (University of Nebraska Press, 2013) and is also the author of non-fiction children's book, Newspapers & Butter Pecan Ice Cream (2017), and Borrowing from Our Foremothers (University of Nebraska Press, 2021.) Forss is currently creating a non-fiction children's book on micro-preemie babies illustrated by gallery artist Alissa Hansen for national release.
Black Print with a White Carnation: An examination of the impact of the black press through the narrative of Mildred Brown’s life and work. Drawing on the research of doing 150 oral histories, reading numerous black newspapers and government documents, the text illuminate s African American history in Omaha, Nebraska during the political and social upheaval of the twentieth century. Brown’s Omaha Star newspaper served as the channel of communication between black and white North Omaha residents, as well as providing positive weekly African American news amidst racial discrimination, unfair employment practices, restrictive housing covenants, and a segregated public school system.
Newspapers & Butter Pecan Ice Cream: Non-fiction 3rd grader picture book taught in Omaha Public Schools, Boys Town, Westside Community Schools, and Lincoln Public Schools curriculum about Mildred Brown and the Omaha Star newspaper, the longest running black newspaper co-founded by a black woman in the US. In a real story, Brown inspires her newspaper boys and girls on how to lessen discrimination in Omaha's Near North Side.
Borrowing from Our Foremothers: Explores the women's movement from 1848 to 2017 through material culture artifacts, such as carte de visite photographs, clothing, gavels, sculptures, urns, service pins, and torches. Studded with thirty objects and ninety-nine oral histories including Rosalynn Carter and Pussyhat Project co-creator Krista Suh places the development of feminism alongside our current moment.
