The 2025-26 Interpreting American History Lecture Series will be hosting Dr. Jayson Maurice Porter on Monday, December 8th. Dr. Porter is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Maryland, College Park whose research focuses on environmental histories of Mexico and the African Diaspora, food systems, agrochemicals, and environmental in/justice. He is a board member of Rutgers' Black Ecologies Lab and Co-Designer of the Chicago Teacher's Union Environmental Justice Freedom School.
Dr. Porter will be giving a lecture on Oilseed Archives: Plants and Chemicals as Material Witnesses of the African Diaspora and Violence in Guerrero, Mexico. The lecture will be from 5-7pm in Academic Building West Wing 6051 (RCHA room) and all are invited to attend. Please see the attached flyer for additional details.
Jayson is an environmental writer and historian who researches environmental histories of Mexico, the African Diaspora, food systems, agrochemicals, and environmental justice and injustice. His book manuscript (in review with Duke University Press) focuses on the environmental change in Guerrero, Mexico through oilseeds crops, such as cotton, sesame, and coconuts. You can find his narrative nonfiction works on black environmental history in Distillations Magazine.