Best-selling Author Michelle Alexander to Speak at 29th Annual MLK Convocation
Best-selling author Michelle Alexander will speak at Loyola University Maryland’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Convocation on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, at 6:30 p.m., via livestream. “The New Jim Crow: An Evening with Michelle Alexander” convocation will be moderated by Karsonya Wise Whitehead, Ph.D., founding director of the Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice and associate professor of communication and African and African American Studies at Loyola.
“The Martin Luther King, Jr., Convocation is an opportunity for Loyola’s campus and community to collectively honor and celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, while also recommitting ourselves to the Jesuit values of social justice, self-reflection, and solidarity,” said Rhona N. Little, diversity and inclusion specialist for Loyola’s office of equity and inclusion.
At the event, Alexander will guide audience members through her critically acclaimed bestseller, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. She will discuss racial injustice in the modern legal system, how mass incarceration has come to replace segregation, and much more. Alexander leaves audiences with a new perspective on the challenges facing the civil rights community and a call to action for a multi-racial, multi-ethnic human rights movement for justice in America.
“Renowned author Michelle Alexander’s presence at Loyola will provide us with meaningful insights into the U.S. criminal justice system and, in turn, empower us to consider actions we can take to be a part of the solution,” said Rodney L. Parker, Ph.D., acting chief equity and inclusion officer. “I hope many members of our community will join us for this important conversation as we begin the semester together.”
Alexander’s book—which the New York Review of Books described as “striking in the intelligence of her ideas, her powers of summary, and the force of her writing”—released a special 10th anniversary edition in January 2020. In addition to being an author, Alexander is also a legal scholar, social justice advocate, columnist at the New York Times, and visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary.
This virtual event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is encouraged.
The convocation is co-sponsored by the office of the president, Loyola’s office of equity and inclusion, Messina, and the Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice.
For more information, please call 410-617-2842, write to officeoftheceio@loyola.edu, or visit www.loyola.edu/mlk. Closed captioning will be provided.
About the MLK Convocation
The Martin Luther King, Jr., Convocation, celebrating its 29th year, is an occasion for Loyola and the Baltimore communities to launch the spring semester and the New Year by coming together for shared inquiry into the issues of social justice, politics, spirituality, and the legacies of race and racial justice in America. The convocation, which is sponsored by Loyola University Maryland’s office of equity and inclusion, is a signature event for the University. Past speakers have included Octavia Butler, Spike Lee, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Roxane Gay.