Distinguished scholar, best-selling author, and public intellectual Eddie Glaude, Jr., Ph.D., will present the Fall 2022 Ducharme Lecture on Thursday, September 29 at 6:30 p.m. in Knott Auditorium. His lecture, titled “Race & Democracy: America Is Always Changing, But America Never Changes,” will be followed by a book signing. The event is free and open to the public.
In his presentation, Glaude, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University, will expose the tangled web of race, trauma and memory in today’s society and discuss what Americans must ask of themselves in order to bring about a new America. Combining a scholar’s knowledge of history, a political commentator’s take on the latest events, and an activist’s passion for social justice, Glaude challenges Americans to examine the collective American conscience, "not to posit the greatness of America, but to establish the ground upon which to imagine the country anew."
A highly accomplished and respected scholar of religion, Glaude is also a passionate educator and political commentator who appears regularly in the media, including MSNBC and C-SPAN. His most recent book, Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, was a New York Times bestseller. In Spring 2022, the Office of Equity and Success worked to bring James Baldwin into campus conversations about race and the contemporary United States through a faculty book group led by Professor Jack Dudley, Ph.D.; a documentary film screening and a lecture by McKinley E. Melton, Ph.D., of Gettysburg College. Glaude’s selection as the Ducharme lecturer continues this conversation.
Glaude is known both for his inspiring oratory and ability to convene conversations that engage fellow citizens from all backgrounds. His 2015 commencement remarks at Colgate University titled, "Turning Our Backs," was recognized by the New York Times as one of the best commencement speeches of the year.
This lecture is sponsored by the Office of Equity and Success, the College of Liberal Arts, and the Ducharme Lecture Series.
Held twice a year, the Ducharme Series fosters the integration of learning between different fields in the Mount’s core curriculum. The series is named in honor of Professor Emeritus Robert Ducharme, Ph.D., who advanced the Mount’s mission for 39 years as an English professor and department chair. The Ducharme Lectures are endowed with a generous gift by Raphael Della Ratta, C’92, who was an English and philosophy major at the Mount.
Members of the general public are asked to register in advance for the September 29 lecture.