Northeastern Illinois University's Presidential Lecture Series to feature historian Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Northeastern Illinois University's newly relaunched Presidential Lecture Series will welcome acclaimed author, historian and scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.
"An Evening with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor," will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15 in the Auditorium on the Main Campus, 3701 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. in Chicago. The lecture will also be livestreamed on neiu.edu/lectures.
Taylor is one of the nation's most prominent scholars on Black liberation politics, social movements and racial inequality. Her book, "Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership," was a semifinalist for the 2019 National Book Award and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History in 2020. In 2021, she was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship - informally known as "genius grant" - and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Taylor earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Northeastern Illinois University in 2007 through the Board of Governor's program, known today as the Interdisciplinary Studies program. She earned her master's and doctoral degrees from Northwestern University, where she is currently the Leon Forrest Professor of African American Studies.
Northeastern Illinois University's Presidential Lecture Series was created in 1995 by President Emerita Salme Harju Steinberg to bring world-class authors and thinkers to the institution and invite the larger Chicago community to experience Northeastern Illinois University's values in action. Previous Presidential Lecture Series speakers include: Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker (1998); Scholar and activist Dr. Cornel West (2000); Navajo code talker Dr. Samuel Billison (2001); author Margaret Atwood (2002; primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall (2005) and urban farmer and MacArthur Fellow Will Allen (2014)
"An Evening with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor" is free and open to the public. Tickets are required as seating is limited. Masks are recommended to be worn while indoors on campus. Tickets are currently available to the public at neiu.edu/tickets. The lecture will also be livestreamed on neiu.edu/lectures.