Northeastern Illinois University is pleased to announce the speaker for the newly relaunched Presidential Lecture Series will be acclaimed author, historian and scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. “An Evening with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor,” will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15 in the Auditorium on the Main Campus, 3701 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. in Chicago. The lecture will also be livestreamed on www.neiu.edu/lectures.
Taylor is one of the nation’s most prominent scholars on Black liberation politics, social movements and racial inequality. Her book, “Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership,” was a semifinalist for the 2019 National Book Award and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History in 2020. In 2021, she was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship—informally known as “genius grant”—and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Taylor earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Northeastern Illinois University in 2007 through the Board of Governor’s program, known today as the Interdisciplinary Studies program. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from Northwestern University, where she is currently the Leon Forrest Professor of African American Studies.
Northeastern Illinois University’s Presidential Lecture Series was created in 1995 by President Emerita Salme Harju Steinberg to bring world-class authors and thinkers to the institution and invite the larger Chicago community to experience Northeastern Illinois University’s values in action.
Previous Presidential Lecture Series speakers include:
● Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker (1998)
● Scholar and activist Dr. Cornel West (2000)
● Navajo Code Talker Dr. Samuel Billison (2001)
● Author Margaret Atwood (2002)
● Primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall (2005)
● Urban farmer and MacArthur Fellow Will Allen (2014)
The last Presidential Lecture Series was held in 2016. With the launch of the University’s new Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, the intention is to once again make the Presidential Lecture Series a hallmark University event.
TICKETS
The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are required as seating is limited. Masks are recommended to be worn while indoors on campus. Tickets are currently available to the public at www.neiu.edu/tickets.
ABOUT NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
Northeastern Illinois University offers more than 40 undergraduate degree and certificate programs and more than 50 graduate degree, certificate, licensure and endorsement programs. The Main Campus is located on 67 acres in an attractive residential area on the Northwest Side of Chicago. The University has additional locations in the metropolitan area, including the Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies, El Centro and the University Center of Lake County.