Keynote Address: Freedom Dreams and US Democracy, with Robin D.G. Kelley
Friday, Oct. 6th, 2023
Faculty Club Grand Lounge
KEYNOTE: Noon to 1:30 p.m.
RECEPTION: 1:30-2 p.m.
Hosted by the Global Arts + Humanities Society of Fellows
Co-Sponsored by the Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project (OPEEP)
Moderated by Hasan Kwame Jeffries (associate professor, History)
Robin D.G. Kelley is the Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History and professor of African American studies at UCLA. His extensive academic career explores the history of social movements in the U.S., the African Diaspora and Africa; Black intellectuals; music; visual culture; contemporary urban studies; historiography and historical theory; poverty studies and ethnography; and organized labor, among other topics.
Kelley is a prolific scholar and the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and Freedom Scholars Award. He has authored nine books, including his groundbreaking history, Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination (2002/2022). This keynote address celebrates the 20th anniversary of Freedom Dreams and considers where we are twenty years later — addressing social inequities and envisioning more equitable futures.
Kelley will also join OPEEP staff on Saturday, October 7th to meet with members of the Liberation At the Margins (LAM) Collective at the Ohio Reformatory for Women (ORW). The LAM Collective is an intellectual community at ORW comprised of OPEEP staff and incarcerated student leaders at the facility. In preparation for his visit, LAM members have been reading and discussing Kelley's Freedom Dreams for the past several weeks. There are many obvious connections between Kelley's writings on liberation and the work being done in the LAM Collective, and the OPEEP team is thrilled to see where the discussion goes on Saturday! Even though this part of Kelley's visit will not be open to the public, it exemplifies his dedication to the marginalized communities about which he writes. We highly encourage folks to attend the public portion of Kelley's visit - his keynote address - this Friday, October 6th at 12pm!
