UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Three events this spring will highlight the role that structural racism played in American society, and how citizens can rethink their own views on racism.
The Africana Research Center will host presentations by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Feb. 27 and Ibram X. Kendi March 19. Both events will begin at 6 p.m. in Paterno Library’s Foster Auditorium.
Taylor is assistant professor of African American studies at Princeton University and author of “Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership,” which examines how discriminatory housing practices continued long after they were legally banned by the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968.
Kendi is founding director of The Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University and author of the bestselling book “How to Be an Antiracist,” which aims to help readers rethink their most deeply held beliefs and relationships and re-examine broader social policies they support.
The Africana Research Center will also co-sponsor a lecture by Emory University’s Carol Anderson on her book on African American voter access “One Person, No Vote” at 4 p.m. April 23 in the HUB Auditorium. The event is co-sponsored by the McCourtney Institute for Democracy, Humanities Institute and Richards Civil War Era Center. It is part of the College of the Liberal Arts 2020 theme, “A Century of Women’s Activism.”
In addition, the center hosts a regular “Food for Thought” series that features presentations from faculty and scholars in the College of the Liberal Arts. Postdoctoral scholar Leigh Soares will discuss “Progressive Era Reform and the Black Campus” March 3 and postdoctoral scholar Elyan Hill will discuss “Women’s Voices and Embodied Visualities in Togolese Sacred Arts” April 9. Both talks will be held from noon to 1 p.m. in 102 Weaver Building.
All lectures are free and open to the public. For more information on these events, visit the Africana Research Center’s website at arc.la.psu.edu.