Riding for a Cause

Tobin Miller Shearer, an associate history professor who was voted Best UM Professor in the Missoula Independent’s “Best of Missoula,” recently completed his “#ride4blacksolidarity.”

The weeklong, 500-mile bicycle journey around Montana raised funds and awareness for UM’s Black Student Union and African-American Studies Program – the country’s third oldest program of its kind.

“The Montanans I spoke with during the ride were eager, interested and capable of having in-depth, informed and respectful conversations about African-American history in our state even during this time of heightened racial tension across our country,” says Shearer. “I also learned that you have to eat a ton of food to stay fueled up when riding 500 miles in the space of a week. I mean a lot of food.”

UM’s African-American Studies Program will mark a half century of existence in 2018. Shearer, who directs the program, says UM will host esteemed historian Darlene Clark Hine for a Presidential Lecture Series talk on Feb. 12, and his students are planning the Black Solidarity Summit for Feb. 17-18.