Khalil Gibran Muhammad, director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide, will deliver the University of Rochester’s 2015 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Address on Friday, Jan. 23. The talk, which is free and open to the public, begins at 6 p.m. in the Strong Auditorium on the River Campus.
Prior to his appointment as the executive director the Schomburg Center in 2011, Muhammad was an assistant professor of history at Indiana University. While there, he wrote The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime and the Making of Modern Urban America, in which he explored the roots of the popular conception of black criminality in America.
“What drove me into academia was a pursuit of knowledge about how it is that we could live in a society that justified…the reality that black life was cheaper than other forms of life in America,” Muhammad said.
Recently, Muhammad has provided commentary about events such as the Trayvon Martin case, the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., the Eric Garner case in New York City, as well as the militarization of police forces across the nation. Muhammad has appeared on numerous television and radio news programs, including Moyers & Company, MSNBC with Melissa Harris-Perry, and NPR.
“We are honored to have Dr. Muhammad as this year’s keynote speaker for our annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Address,” said Norman Burnett, assistant dean and director of the Office of Minority Student Affairs. “We have a socially astute student community whose involvement in issues of social justice includes participating in local protests, as well as those in New York and in Ferguson. We are excited to host Dr. Muhammad who will actively engage students and challenge all who are not only interested in social justice, but who are equally interested in creating social change.”
The culmination of a weeklong celebration of King’s life and the kick-off for Black History Month, the annual address is co-sponsored by the Office of Minority Student Affairs and the Office of the President. Anyone needing special accommodations to the event should contact the Office of Minority Affairs at 585.275.0651 at least five days in advance.
Note to Members of the Press: Press availability with Muhammad will be from 3 to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 23, in the Frederick Douglass Leadership House, located on Wilson Boulevard on the Fraternity Quadrangle. Members of the media should check in with Monique Patenaude at 585.276.3693 or via email at monique.patenaude@rochester.edu.
