Keisha N. Blain Author Talk and Book Signing

“Without Fear tells the stories of Black women who, like Deborah in the Bible, have engaged in social justice agitation, refusing to simply suffer by engaging in the redemptive work of challenging injustice while in the midst of it. Each of us can and must learn from these women if we are to reconstruct America and build a just world.” —Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II, coauthor of White Poverty

Even before they were recognized as citizens of the United States, Black women understood that the fights for civil and human rights were inseparable. Over the course of two hundred years, they were at the forefront of national and international movements for social change, weaving connections between their own and others’ freedom struggles around the world.

Without Fear tells how, during American history, Black women made humans rights theirs: from worldwide travel and public advocacy in the global Black press to their work for the United Nations, they courageously and effectively moved human rights beyond an esoteric concept to an active, organizing principle. Acclaimed historian Keisha N. Blain tells the story of these women—from the well-known, like Ida B. Wells, Madam C. J. Walker, and Lena Horne, to those who are still less known, including Pearl Sherrod, Aretha McKinley, and Marguerite Cartwright. Blain captures human rights thinking and activism from the ground up with Black women at the center, working outside the traditional halls of power.

By shouldering intersecting forms of oppression—including racism, sexism, and classism—Black women have long been in a unique position to fight for freedom and dignity. Without Fear is an account of their aspirations, strategies, and struggles to pioneer a human rights approach to combating systems of injustice.

Keisha will be joined in conversation with Executive Director Kathe Hambrick

Keisha N. Blain is professor of Africana studies and history at Brown University. She is a Guggenheim, Carnegie, and New America Fellow, and author—most recently of the National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Until I Am Free. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Kathe Hambrick is the Executive Director of the Amistad Research Center, the country’s oldest independent archives dedicated to Black history. Prior to this time, she was the Founder and former Executive Director of the River Road African American Museum in Donaldsonville, established in 1994 as Louisiana’s first African American history museum. She also previously served as the Chief Curator and Director of Interpretation for the West Baton Rouge Museum. Her career as a museum professional includes an expertise in program development, interpretative planning, curation, grant writing, fundraising, and board governance. In 2021, Hambrick established the consulting firm, 2PRESERVE that provided cultural resource guidance to corporations, museums, cultural centers, government agencies, and faith-based organizations. She is a past President of the National Association of African American Museums.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

1030 Elysian Fields Ave, 1030 Elysian Fields Avenue, New Orleans, United States