Book Salon with Derek G. Handley

The Book Salon series celebrates new publications from English department members and fosters connections within the university and the wider community. Each session emphasizes open discussion and engagement with the key topics explored in the featured work. In the latest Salon, the English department welcomed Dr. Derek G. Handley (MA RHET '11, PhD RHET '18) to present his recent book Struggle for the City: Rhetorics of Citizenship and Resistance in the Black Freedom Movement (Penn State University Press, 2024).

Department Head Andreea Ritivoi introduced Dr. Handley, currently an assistant professor in the English Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, by recalling his exceptional work ethic, as he completed his studies part-time while teaching and serving in the U.S. Naval Reserves. Handley cited this flexibility as being one of the keys for him to choose Carnegie Mellon.

Handley’s parents moved to Pittsburgh during the Great Migration, after World War II. His family witnessed the transformations the City of Pittsburgh underwent. His book examines the impact of urban renewal policies of the 1950s and 1960s on the Black populations of a group of northern cities, focusing on specific neighborhoods in each: Pittsburgh’s Hill District, the Bronzeville neighborhood of Milwaukee, and the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul. Using his solid foundation in rhetoric, he explains how the citizens were able to advocate for themselves and their communities, and how the examples of this mid-twentieth century resistance inform today’s civic engagement and justice movements.

A lively discussion about the book took place. Handley, recalling the courses and professors that shaped his skills in writing and creating compelling narratives, shared details about his research processes, including working with primary sources such as oral histories, and the Black newspapers of these cities, such as the Pittsburgh Courier and the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. Using the residents’ own words to delineate their displacement demonstrated how it was possible to have greater agency in shaping the changing landscapes of these cities. Handley explained, “The ‘Civil Rights Movement’ is so often a record of where Martin Luther King was. I’d like to change that.”

As many of the audience members were current graduate students, Handley also discussed how he adapted his dissertation, on which the book was based, into a volume appealing to a broad audience. He also met with students and attended classes, before ending his visit by delivering a talk as part of the CAUSE-Heinz Speaker Series.