A University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor will give a Feb. 4 lecture that explores how historians approach and understand the civil rights movement.

Dr. John Kirk, George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will give the talk, “What is the Civil Rights Movement?” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, at the Historic Arkansas Museum, Ottenheimer Auditorium, 200 E. Third St. in Little Rock.

“Initially focusing on the 1950s and 1960s and on the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights studies have expanded chronologically and thematically since the 1960s to paint a very different picture of a black struggle for freedom and equality,” Kirk said. “This talk will outline and examine the nature and context of those changes and assess how historians view the civil rights movement today.”

Kirk’s research focuses primarily on the history of the civil rights movement. He has published nine books, including the award-winning “Redefining the Color Line: Black Activism in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1940-1970.” His forthcoming book, “The Civil Rights Movement: A Documentary Reader,” will be published later this year.

Parking is available at the Historic Arkansas Museum parking lot at Third and Cumberland streets. Refreshments will be served at 7 p.m., followed by the talk at 7:30 p.m. The talk is part of the University History Institute’s Evenings with History lecture series.