Dr. Cathy J. Cohen to Give Martin Luther King Memorial Lecture

Dr. Cathy J. Cohen

Dr. Cathy J. Cohen, one of the nation’s leading scholars of race and politics, will give the 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture at Gustavus Adolphus College at 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 21 in Christ Chapel. Cohen’s lecture is titled “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the Age of Obama: Building a New Movement for the 21st Century” and is free and open to the public.

You can live stream today’s Martin Luther King Memorial Lecture by going online to the Gustavus live streaming portal. 

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture is an annual event on the Gustavus campus that has previously drawn prominent speakers such as Taylor Branch, the Rev. C.T. Vivian, and Bernard Lafayette Jr.

Dr. Cohen is the David and Mary Winton Green Professor of Political Science and the College at the University of Chicago. She also serves as the Deputy Provost for Graduate Education and is the former Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture. A successful author, Cohen has penned The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics and Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics. She is also the co-editor of Women Transforming Politics: An Alternative Reader.

Dr. Cohen is also the recipient of numerous awards including the Robert Wood Johnson Investigator’s Award, the Robert Wood Johnson Scholars in Health Policy Research Fellowship, and two major research grants from the Ford Foundation for her work as principal investigator of the Black Youth Project and the Mobilization, Change and Political and Civic Engagement Project.

In addition to her academic work, Cohen has always been politically active. She currently serves on the board of the Arcus Foundation and is a past board member of the Audre Lorde Project, Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, and the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at CUNY. She was a founding member of Black AIDS Mobilization (BAM!) and has also served as an active member in organizations such as the Black Radical Congress, African American Women in Defense of Ourselves, and Ella’s Daughters.

Gustavus will conclude its Martin Luther King Day festivities with a performance by Minneapolis-based Mixed Blood Theatre at 7 p.m. in Alumni Hall. Mixed Blood’s Dr. King’s Dream celebrates the life and career of King through his own letters, sermons, books, and speeches, including the timeless “I Have a Dream” speech. Marvin Grays, who has toured for Mixed Blood as Dr. King for well over a decade will provide a commanding solo performance that is stirring and poignant. Mixed Blood’s performance of Dr. King’s Dream is free and open to the public and is suitable for audiences age 10 and up.

For more information or questions about Martin Luther King Day events at Gustavus on Jan. 21, contact Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Diversity and Multicultural Programs Virgil Jones at vjones@gustavus.edu or Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Peace Studies Program Mimi Gerstbauer at mgerstba@gustavus.edu.

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Media Contact: Media Relations Manager Matt Thomas
mthomas@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510

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Civil Rights pioneer Grace Lee Boggs to speak at Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event

Grace Lee Boggs, a towering figure in many of the most important social justice movements of the past 60 years, will be the featured speaker at Grinnell College's celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The 97-year-old activist, writer and longtime civil rights leader will speak and answer questions at an event titled "What Time is it?: An Afternoon with Civil Rights Pioneer Grace Lee Boggs." Sponsored by the Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations, and Human Rights, the event will take place on Monday, Jan. 21, at 4:15 p.m. in Room 101 of the Joe Rosenfield '25 Center. The talk is open to the public at no charge.

Grace Lee Boggs was born in Providence, R.I. to Chinese immigrant parents in 1915. For more than 60 years, she has been politically involved in U.S. social movements: Labor, Civil Rights, Black Power, Asian American, women's and environmental justice. In the l940s and l950s she worked with West Indian Marxist historian C.L.R. James. She later moved to Detroit, where she married James Boggs, an African-American labor activist, writer and strategist. Working together in grassroots groups and projects, they wrote a book, "Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century," which was published by Monthly Review Press in l974 and re-issued as a classic in 2009.

In 1992 Boggs founded DETROIT SUMMER with James Boggs and others. The multicultural, intergenerational program was designed to rebuild Detroit from the ground up. Boggs currently works with the Detroit City of Hope campaign and the Beloved Communities Initiative. In addition, she writes for the weekly Michigan Citizen.

Her autobiography, Living for Change, is widely used in university classes and will soon be published in China. Her most recent book with Scott Kurashige is The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century (University of California Press, 2011).

Boggs received her B.A. from Barnard College and her Ph.D. in philosophy from Bryn Mawr College.

Grace Lee Boggs's visit to Grinnell is co-sponsored by the Office of Intercultural Engagement and Leadership.

For more information, contact Sarah Purcell, purcelsj@grinnell.edu, 641-269-3091. Grinnell welcomes and encourages the participation of people with disabilities. Information on parking and accessibility is available on the college website. Accommodation requests may be made to Conference Operations at 641-269-3235 or calendar@grinnell.edu.

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