Social Sciences Forum Low Lecture
Rhonda Y. Williams, associate professor and founding director of the Social Justice Institute at Case Western Reserve University

Dr. Rhonda Y. Williams is an associate professor and the first black person ever tenured in the History Department at Case Western Reserve University. She is the founder and director of the Social Justice Institute at CWRU, and the founder and director of CWRU’s Postdoctoral Fellowship in African American Studies. In April 2009, she was awarded CWRU’s inaugural Inclusion and Diversity Achievement Award.

James Baldwin wrote: “I have never known a Negro all my life who was not obsessed with black power.” And Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-NY) stated: “Everybody is so hysterical and panic stricken because of the adjective that precedes the word power — “black.”

So, what of this complicated term, “black power”?

In her talk, based on her book Concrete Demands, Dr. Rhonda Y. Williams will examine some of the roots, routes, and expressions that have comprised the vigorous search for Black Power in the 20th century — both before and after the familiar popularization of the term in 1966 — and discuss why it’s still relevant today.

This event is free and open to the public.