Anne Braden Memorial Lecture
Each year, the ABI puts on an Anne Braden Memorial Lecture in U.S. civil rights movement history.
This event is free and open to the public and typically takes place in the fall semester. Our first-ever lecturer was Julian Bond, longtime president of the NAACP, an early leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and a decades-long friend of Anne Braden. Bond packed a crowd of about 600 people into the Brown-Williamson Room of Cardinal Stadium on April 4, 2007. This event and date also marked the grand opening of the Anne Braden Institute*s reading room in Ekstrom Library. A press conference prior to the lecture celebrated the grand opening, at which Bond made a few opening remarks, then cut a ribbon and led the crowd into the newly created space.
Topics include:
Civil Rights Behind Bars
2024- Our 18th annual lecture entitled Civil Rights Behind Bars will be delivered by Andrea Armstrong of Loyola University of New Orleans on Thursday, November 7th in Middelton Auditorium.
South to America
2022- Our 16th annual lecture entitled South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation will be delivered by Dr. Imani Perry of Princeton University on Thursday, November 3rd in Middelton Auditorium.
The Fire This Time
2021 — Our 15th annual lecture entitled “The Fire This Time: Police Violence and Urban Uprisings from the 1960s to Breonna Taylor,” will be delivered by Dr. Elizabeth Hinton of Yale University on Wednesday, November 10, in the UofL SAC Ballroom.
Calling In the Call Out Culture
2020 - Loretta Ross, Visiting Associate Professor at Smith College presents this year's Anne Braden Memorial Lecture. November 11 at 5:30-7:30pm via Zoom.
The Half-Life of Freedom: Race and Justice in America Today
2019 - Dr. Jelani Cobb, Columbia professor of journalism and award-winning columnist on race, history and politics for the New Yorker presents this year's Anne Braden Memorial Lecture. November 20 from 5:30-7:30pm in Comstock Hall, UofL School of Music. Free and open to the public with reception to follow.
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation
2018 - Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor delivered the 12th Annual Anne Braden Memorial lecture to a packed house in Strickler Hall's Middleton Auditorium. Her talk, "From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation," was based on her 2016 book of the same name.
The Evidence of Things Done: Learning Lessons of Struggle in the 21st Century
2017 – Rhonda Y Williams to deliver performance-talk November 8 at duPont Manual High School auditorium
Freedom is a Constant Struggle
2016 – Angela Y Davis's lecture was inspired by her 2015 book of the same title, Freedom is a Constant Struggle.
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide
2015 – Emory University historian Carol Anderson's lecture was inspired by Anderson’s essay for the Washington Post titled “Ferguson Isn’t About Black Rage Against Cops. It’s White Rage Against Progress” – which immediately went viral — and is also the subject of a forthcoming book.
From Freedom Summer to Ferguson: Why we need a new culture of belonging
2014 – University of California Berkeley professor of law, African American studies and ethnic studies John A. Powell, J.D. provided insights based on decades of research and activism in the areas of race, structural racism, ethnicity, housing, poverty and democracy.
Why the Past Won’t Go Away: The Crisis of History in the Age of Post-Racialism
2013 – Schomburg Center director Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad spoke about how knowing the past directly relates to understanding the present race-related crises.
Neoliberalism and the War on Our Youth
2012 – African American studies scholar, author and UCLA professor, Robin D.G. Kelley addressed mass incarceration, punitive measures against children of color in public schools, Trayvon Martin, the Occupy Movement and racism, and more in his talk for the 6th Annual Anne Braden Memorial Lecture.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
2011 – Author Dr. Michelle Alexander was the guest speaker for the fifth annual Anne Braden Memorial Lecture featuring a presentation of her book.
“Creating a Vital Transformative Change In the Struggle For American Freedom”
2010 – The fourth annual Anne Braden Memorial Lecture featured a presentation by Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, a cultural historian, singer/composer, student activist leader veteran of the Albany, Georgia Civil Rights Movement; and a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC Freedom Singers).
From Civil Rights to Economic Justice: The Freedom Movement’s Unfinished Business
2009 – The 3rd Annual Anne Braden Memorial Lecture featured Prof. Michael Honey, who delivered a lecture entitled, “From Civil Rights to Economic Justice: The Freedom Movement’s Unfinished Business”.
What Now? What Next? Revisiting the Radical Voices of the Civil Rights Movement
2008 – 2nd Annual Anne Braden Memorial Lecture: Dr. Ransby is author of the award-winning Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision, and associate professor of history/African American Studies/Gender and Women*s Studies at Univ. of Illinois-Chicago.
2007: A Race Odyssey
2007 – The first Anne Braden Memorial Lecture guest speaker, the late Julian Bond, was a civil rights icon and catalyst for change during the Civil Rights Movement.
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