About this Event
IN PERSON PROGRAM FROM OUR CONVERSATIONS IN BLACK FREEDOM STUDIES SERIES
In 1986, at the first big conference of King scholars, Coretta Scott King called for more women scholars the next time a conference was held on her husband's work. Nearly 40 years later, this panel will answer. Leading scholars of Martin Luther King, Coretta Scott King, and the Black freedom movement come together to see both Martin and Coretta Scott King anew. Jeanne Theoharis will discuss her new book King of the North: Martin Luther King's Life of Struggle Outside the South, which details the Kings' experiences coming of age in graduate school in the segregated North and their lifelong challenge to Northern racism, the limits of Northern racism and colonialism at home and abroad. Beverly Guy- Sheftall (Gender Talk: A Struggle for Women’s Equality in African American Communities) will share new work on Coretta Scott King's support of LGBTQI+ communities, and renowned activist and author Barbara Smith (Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Forty Years of Movement Building with Barbara Smith) will discuss the Kings in history and context in the Black feminist movement.
This discussion will also be streamed on our YouTube channel.
PANELISTS
Jeanne Theoharis | Jeanne Theoharis is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. Her book, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, won a 2014 NAACP Image Award. She is the author of A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History. She and Komozi Woodard have edited several collections of scholarship on the Black Freedom Struggle, including Freedom North: Black Freedom Struggles Outside of the South, 1940-1980, Groundwork: Local Black Freedom Movements in America, Want to Start A Revolution?: Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle with Dayo Gore, and The Strange Careers of the Jim Crow North: Segregation and Struggle Outside of the South with Brian Purnell.
Theoharis is the author of numerous books and articles on the civil rights and Black Power movements, the politics of race and education, social welfare and civil rights in post-9/11 America. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC, The Nation, Slate, Salon, the Intercept, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Her most recent book, written with Brandy Colbert, is The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks: Young Readers Edition.
Barbara Smith | Beginning in the 1970s, Barbara Smith broke new ground as a black feminist, lesbian, activist, author, and book publisher of women of color. Smith co-founded the Combahee River Collective in 1974. This document was one of the earliest explorations of the intersection of multiple oppressions, including racism and heterosexism, critiquing both sexual oppression in the black community and racism within the wider feminist movement. She co-founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press in 1980, the first U.S. publisher of books for women of color. Smith taught classes on black women’s literature and has been visiting professor, writer in residence, freelance writer, and lecturer at numerous universities and research institutions, including the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (1995-1996). She is the author of numerous books and continues to lecture widely.
Beverly Guy-Sheftall| Beverly Guy-Sheftall is the Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women’s Studies and the founding director of the Women’s Research & Resource Center at Spelman College. She is also one of the founding co-editors of Sage: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women. Her previous publications include Who Should Be First?: Feminists Speak Out on the 2008 Presidential Campaign (co-edited with Johnnetta B. Cole) and Still Brave: The Evolution of Black Women’s Studies (co-edited with Frances Smith Foster and Stanlie M. James).
ABOUT CONVERSATIONS IN BLACK FREEDOM STUDIES
The founding curators of this series, Professors Jeanne Theoharis (Brooklyn College/CUNY) and Komozi Woodard (Sarah Lawrence College), introduced a new paradigm that challenged the older geography, leadership, ideology, culture and chronology of Civil Rights historiography. Jeanne Theoharis continues in her role and is joined by Robyn C. Spencer-Antoine (Wayne State University) ) as co-curator. Komozi Woodard continues to advise the series from an emeritus position. Discussions take place on the first Thursday of each month.
Learn more: http://www.blackfreedomstudies.org
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED Events are free and open to all, but due to space constraints registration is requested. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. After the event starts all registered seats are released regardless of registration, so we recommend that you arrive early. We generally overbook to ensure a full house.
ACCESSIBILITY | Live captioning is available for streaming programs. ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing [email protected].
PRESS | Please send all press inquiries (photo, video, interviews, audio-recording, etc) at least 24-hours before the day of the program to Leah Drayton at [email protected]. Please note that professional video recordings are prohibited without expressed consent.
Conversations in Black Freedom Studies is supported by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. Additional support provided by Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture - New York Public Library, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, United States
USD 0.00
