Becky Thompson

How have centuries of political resistance by African American, Latino, Native American, and Asian American activists allowed white people to undertake antiracist work? What were the successes, limitations, and contradictions of white antiracism in each of these social movements? What lessons can be learned for current multiracial activism? What are the hot spots for antiracism now? What is required for white people to be allies to people of color in progressive political change? How are people using spirituality to inform their activist work?

In a lecture she will give Tuesday, October 23, Becky Thompson, author of A Promise and A Way of Life: White Antiracist Activism and associate professor of sociology at Simmons College, will address these and other questions. She will examine antiracism in a range of social movements in the United States—the Black Power and Civil Rights movements, prison activism, multiracial feminism, and the struggle for multicultural education. The talk will be held in Mary Woolley Hall’s New York Room at 7:30 pm, and a reception and book signing will follow.

The lecture is sponsored by the Office of the Dean of the College with the generous support of the Braitmayer Foundation and the Western Massachusetts Coalition of Anti-Racist Educators. It is cosponsored by the African American and African Studies Program and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.