MLK keynote speaker to discuss book at Sunday afternoon event

Wednesday, January 16, 2008, By News Staff

MLK keynote speaker to discuss book at Sunday afternoon eventJanuary 16, 2008Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

“An Open Conversation with Barbara Ransby,” an event featuring a discussion with the keynote speaker for Syracuse University’s 23rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, will be held Sunday, Jan. 20, at 3 p.m. in Maxwell Auditorium.

There, Ransby will discuss her book “Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision” (University of North Carolina Press, 2003), an award-winning biography of civil rights activist Ella Baker. A free copy of Ransby’s book will be given to each of the first five students who arrive at the event.

This event is free and open to the public; a reception and book signing will also follow. Parking will be available in the Quad 1 and Quad 3 lots.

Ransby, a historian, writer and political activist, is an associate professor of African American studies and history at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is the recipient of a national Ford Foundation postdoctoral fellowship (2000-01) and numerous other recognitions and awards, most notably the prestigious Catherine Prelinger Scholarship Award for her overall contributions to women’s history and her unconventional scholarly career.