Bobby M. Wilson
PhD, Clark University, 1974
Urban-social geography, Civil Rights Movement, housing, urban revitalization, economic development, and social justice for Black communities, to sophisticated theoretical appraisals of capitalist processes, social engineering, and neoliberalism, and anti-racist practice in Geography
Research Interests:
After completing his PhD at Clark University, Dr. Wilson was appointed to the Department of Geography at the University of Alabama, Birmingham from 1974 to 2002, when he moved to Tuscaloosa. Dr. Wilson has received both AAG’s Presidential Achievement Award and Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring his career-long dedication to anti-racist scholarship in geography, for his a mentorship to students, and for the example he has set for colleagues throughout his academic career. In the mid-1980s, he was a member of the AAG’s Commission on Geography and Afro America (COGMA), the first such group to address questions of racism and access within the institutional framework of the discipline. He has played a similar role within the Southeastern Division of the AAG. Dr. Wilson researches the way geographical space can be used to shape human lives, then applies that information toward promoting social justice and fighting racism and his scholarship.