PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College and author of acclaimed books such as “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race” will deliver this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture at Brown University on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
In a conversation moderated by Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity Shontay Delalue, Tatum will offer insights on race in education informed by her decades as a leader in academic settings.
After the conversation, attendees are encouraged to participate in a Q&A session with Tatum.
As a clinical psychologist, Tatum has spent decades focusing on racial identity development, especially among black families and children in majority white neighborhoods. An influential force in higher education, Tatum is widely cited for her research, often required reading for teachers and administrators alike.
For 13 years, Tatum served as the president of Spelman College, the oldest historically black liberal arts college for women in America, where her leadership was marked by innovation and growth; in 2013, she was awarded the Academic Leadership Award from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Tatum is the author of multiple books, including “Can We Talk About Race? And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation,” and the revered “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversation about Race,” which was selected by the National Association of Multicultural Education as its top book of 1998.
Over the course of her decades-long career, Tatum has received numerous awards, including the American Psychological Association’s prestigious Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology — the association’s highest honor — and the Brock International Prize in Education.
The Feb. 11 event at Brown will take place at 6 p.m. at the Salomon Center for Teaching’s De Ciccio Family Auditorium. It is free and open to the public. Tickets will be available starting Jan. 31 but must be reserved in advance.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Brown on multiple occasions in the 1960s, including an April 1967 visit less than one year before his death, where he delivered an impassioned speech on the Vietnam War and civil rights in America.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture, organized by the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, was established at Brown in 1996, with former New York Mayor David Dinkins as the inaugural speaker. Past lecturers have included author and activist Cornel West; activist and educator Angela Davis; President and CEO of the National Urban League Hugh B. Price; community therapist, poet and filmmaker Lee Mun Wah; Professor Emerita of Emory University and President Emerita of Spelman College Johnetta B. Cole; Professor of Law at Harvard Law School Randall Kennedy; President and CEO of the United Negro College Fund Michael Lomax, and Chicana activist and author Elizabeth Martinez.