Christopher Verga, Ph.D.:  “Civil Rights on Long Island”
Long Island’s role in the civil rights movement has been largely overlooked.  In an illustrated lecture, Historian Christopher Verga, author of “Civil Rights on Long Island”,  will trace Long Island’s civil rights history. Long Island had the largest slave population in the North, a large Ku Klux Klan presence, a history of disenfranchisement, as well as school and housing discrimination.  Professor Verga will also explore the efforts of  Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in fighting racial barriers with civil disobedience.

Christopher Verga teaches American History at Suffolk County Community College.  He earned his doctorate in education from St. John's University.  His upcoming book is entitled “Saving Fire Island from Robert Moses”