The N-Word: History, Race and the College Classroom
September 11, 2019
Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History
Smith College
The n-word, a word prevalent in both racist and anti-racist documents, art, literature and politics, is wreaking havoc across U.S. classrooms. With personal, pedagogical and historical perspective - framed in part by her experience as a biracial woman who is also the daughter of iconic comedian Richard Pryor - Dr. Pryor reflects on why the n-word is hard to talk about.
Virginia's Past, Present and Future Lecture Series
2019 marks the 400th anniversary of the first recorded arrival of Africans in British North America. The Humanities Research Center at Virginia Commonwealth University is hosting a year-long series of speaker events and programs, entitled "Virginia’s Past, Present and Future," to foster an informed and constructive conversation about the events of 1619 and the mythology that has built up around them; the subsequent experience of Africans and African Americans in Virginia, British America, and the United States; the continued impact of that history; and the possibilities for a future in which Americans can shed that legacy, building together a just and inclusive multi-racial society.