A University of Central Lancashire Professor is the proud recipient of a prestigious scholarship given to academics poised to make a global impact within their field of research.
Professor of English and American Studies Alan Rice has been offered a Fulbright All Disciplines Scholar Award from the University of Michigan. He is one of only 12 British Fulbright Scholar Award Grantees for 2024/25 and joins an impressive list of academics from universities throughout the UK.
The Co-Director of the University’s internationally renowned Institute for Black Atlantic Research (IBAR), will spend the next 12 months developing his long-running project on the Battle of Bamber Bridge, when, in 1943, a gun-shot stand-off occurred between black American troops stationed in the town during the Second World War and their own military police.
From February to July 2025 Alan will be based at the University of Michigan, which boasts one of the oldest African American Studies programmes. It will allow Alan, for the first time, to investigate the incident through the voices of the working class civilians and the perspective of the troops themselves rather than the partial testimonies from court martial records.
"I aim to progress a research project that is very much part of Preston’s history, where local residents saw the black American troops as fellow fighters against fascism and supported them in a manner they would never do back home in the United States."
— Professor Alan Rice
In addition, Alan will engage with veterans and local community groups to share knowledge about these little known European events, which were a contributing factor to the development of the American Civil Rights Movement.
Alan said: “I am extremely honoured to be given this award and I will be proud to represent it at the University of Michigan.
“I aim to progress a research project that is very much part of Preston’s history, where local residents saw the black American troops as fellow fighters against fascism and supported them in a manner they would never do back home in the United States.”
Alan has dedicated 40 years to the interdisciplinary study of transatlantic black cultures. Through his research into the local and global implications of the black presence in Northern Britain, he has developed a long-term partnership with the community-based Preston Black History and Lancaster Black History Groups and has pioneered innovative slave-site tours around Lancaster.
Fulbright is the only US-UK exchange programme facilitating placements on both sides of the Atlantic and aims to solve global shared problems through diversity and collaboration. More information is available on the Fulbright website.