Community & Culture
Until The Last Gun Is Silent Author Event - Detroit
The untold story of the Black patriots—from soldiers in combat to peace protesters—who ended the Vietnam War and defended the soul of American democracy, from a pre-eminent civil rights historian and the award-winning author of Half American
We are big fans of Delmont's Half American, the Winner of the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Nonfiction. This book is the definitive history of World War II from the African American perspective. We are delighted to host historian Matthew F. Delmont in Detroit for his new book Until the Last Gun is Silent. All are welcome to our events.
Who will love this event?
Verterans
Civil Right History Buffs
Lovers of Miliary History
Black Detroit History Readers
You can join this event with a book ticket and 2 for 1 (two people one book) ticket. We have discount tickets for veterans and other way to join if needed. The book ticket includes the cost of the book and venue fee. The event will included a rich conversation, Q & A session and a book signing line. All event books will be picked up at the venue. If you miss the event and bought a book ticket, we will hold you book for pick up for a week.
About the book:
As the civil rights movement blazed through America, more than 300,000 Black troops were drafted and sent to fight in the Vietnam War. These soldiers, often from disadvantaged backgrounds and subjected to the brutalities of racism back home, found themselves thrust onto the frontlines of a war many saw as unjust. On the homefront, Black antiwar activists faced another battle: Opposition to the Vietnam War, vilified by key allies in the media and government as anti-American, jeopardized the fight for civil rights. For Black Americans, the Vietnam War forced a generation to question what it truly meant to fight for justice.
Award-winning civil rights historian Matthew F. Delmont weaves together the stories of two Black heroes of the Vietnam War era: Coretta Scott King, who bravely championed the antiwar cause—and eventually persuaded her husband to do the same—and Dwight “Skip” Johnson, a Medal of Honor recipient whose life ended tragically after returning from battle to his native Detroit. Together, these extraordinary accounts expose the contradictions of Black activism and military service during the Vietnam War. Through rich storytelling, Delmont offers a portrait of this period unlike any other, shedding light on a fractured civil rights movement, a generation of veterans failed by the country they served, and the valor of Black servicemen and peace advocates in the midst of it all.
About the Author:
Matthew F. Delmont is the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth College. A Guggenheim Fellow and expert on African American history and the history of civil rights, he is the author of five books, most recently Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and several academic journals, and on NPR. Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Delmont earned his BA from Harvard University and his MA and PhD from Brown University.
In Conversation with
Kwesi Betserai, as the Veterans Affairs Manager - the city's first Veterans Affairs leader. Betserai is a veteran with over 28 years of military service.In his previous role with the Wayne County Veterans Services Division, Betserai served as the Director responsible for providing services to approximately 84,500 veterans in Wayne County. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Memphis, and a master’s in business administration from American Military University. Betserai is also an avid runner, a member of Black Men Run Detroit, 100 Black Men of Greater Detroit and the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
“African Americans have participated in every American war since the Revolution, demonstrating their patriotic fervor. Matthew F. Delmont’s Until the Last Gun Is Silent is a fascinating account of how the Vietnam War complicated Black people’s beliefs about military service and patriotism. Riveting and poignant, this is history at its best.”
—Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author of On Juneteenth
“Matthew F. Delmont has given us a great gift in Until the Last Gun Is Silent by restoring Coretta Scott King’s pivotal leadership of the antiwar movement. She didn’t just lead her husband, who stressed, ‘she educated me.’ She led the nation in challenging U.S. involvement in Vietnam and the misprioritization of resources to war that were needed at home. An essential read for our times.”—Jeanne Theoharis, author of King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life of Struggle Outside the South
“In Until the Last Gun Is Silent, his brilliant and timely book about race and America during the Vietnam War, historian Matthew F. Delmont has undertaken an important mission, illuminating the intertwined stories of two misunderstood and underappreciated figures of that era. A captivating book by a gifted storyteller.”
—David Maraniss, New York Times bestselling author of They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967
