Each year, the Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture brings the community together to hear a thought-provoking presentation on current issues from renowned scholars and thought leaders.<\/p>\n
This year’s Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture on December 7, 2020 took the form of a conversation with Ibram X. Kendi<\/a>, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, professor of history, and founding director of BU’s Center for Antiracist Research<\/a>. Historian and Professor Nina Silber<\/a> sat down with Professor Kendi to cover the full range of his work as an activist and leading historian of racism in America.<\/p>\n From his landmark book The Black Campus Movement: Black Students and the Racial Reconstitution of Higher Education, 1965\u20131972<\/em>, which won the W. E. B. Du Bois Book Prize, to Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America<\/em>, which won the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction and was remixed as Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You with Jason Reynolds<\/em>, to his New York Times No. 1 best seller, How to Be an Antiracist<\/em>, and his new book project, Bones of Inequity: A Narrative History of Racist Policies in America<\/em>, Professors Kendi and Silber discussed his intellectual journey and how the current moment has elevated the need for antiracist research.<\/p>\n Over 2000 people attended this virtual event. If you couldn’t make it, you can read a recap at BU Today<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Howard Zinn (1922\u20132010) was a longtime professor in BU’s Department of Political Science. Renowned for his work as a historian, author, professor, playwright, and activist, he wrote dozens of books, including A People’s History of the United States. His work focused on a wide range of issues, including race, class, war, and history. More information about his life and work is available at howardzinn.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Members of the BU faculty present a lecture in his name each year, with the generous support of Alex H. MacDonald (CAS’72) and his wife, Dr. Maureen A. Strafford (MED’76).<\/p>\n