Barbara Smith—who has been politically active in many movements for social justice since the 1960s as an author, activist, and independent scholar—is Brooklyn College’s Hess Scholar-in-Residence for 2022-23. Smith was among the first to define an African American women’s literary tradition and to build Black women’s studies and Black feminism in the United States. Jeanne Theoharis On November 29, from 2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Smith will be part of a conversation on campus with Brooklyn College’s Distinguished Professor of Political Science Jeanne Theoharis. The pair will discuss selected clips from the documentary, “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,” which features Smith and is also based on Theoharis’ research and book of the same name. Smith and Theoharis will explore Rosa Parks’ life of freedom fighting, how the many myths of Parks and the movement cloud our understandings of social change, the roles and experiences of women in the movement, and the lessons this history provides for the work of organizing and social justice today. After their conversation, there will be a Q&A period for students, staff, and faculty. The event will be held in the library’s Woody Tanger Auditorium and will also be livestreamed on the Wolfe Institute’s YouTube channel. At the speaker’s request, masks are required for the in-person event. Room 441 in the library will also be open for guests to watch the lecture online. You can watch the livestream of the event here To stream the documentary for free before the event, Brooklyn College students, faculty, and staff can email: wolfeinstitute@brooklyn.cuny.edu More Hess Scholar-in-Residence lectures will be held in March 2023, and a complete schedule of events will be made available soon. About the Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence Program The Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence Program, established by Brooklyn College, is supported by the Robert L. Hess Fund. The program serves as a permanent tribute to the scholarly commitment of Robert L. Hess, exemplified during his tenure as president of Brooklyn College. It represents the ideal of the educated individual—knowledgeable, thoughtful, inquiring, alive to the shared purposes and concerns lining all intellectual pursuits. More particularly, it evokes the scholarly and academic virtues embodied in the curriculum at Brooklyn College. Sponsors Africana Studies Department; American Studies Program; Anthropology Department; Caribbean Studies Program; Classics Department; the Shirley Chisholm Project; Communications Arts, Sciences, and Disorders Department; English Department; Film Department; History Department; the Honors Academy; Judaic Studies Department; the LGBTQ Resource Center; Modern Languages and Literatures Department; Philosophy Department; Political Science Department; Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Department; Sociology Department; Women’s and Gender Studies Program; and the Women’s Center at Brooklyn College.
