Gerald Smith to Deliver Black History Month Lecture

Published on February 19, 2016

Well-known Kentucky author and educator Dr. Gerald Smith will deliver the keynote address for Black History Month at Eastern Kentucky University. His talk is also part of the University’s year-long Chautauqua lecture series.

Smith will address “Something Old and Something New: Researching and Writing Kentucky African American History” on Thursday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in Ferrell Auditorium of the Combs Building. His talk, free and open to the public, replaces a previously scheduled Black History Month lecture that was postponed.

The Theodore A. Hallam Professor of History and the Martin Luther King Center Scholar in Residence at the University of Kentucky, Smith is the chief editor of The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia and chair of the Kentucky African American Heritage Commission. He is the author of “Black Educator in the Segregated South: The Life and Times of Rufus B. Atwood, 1897-1983,” and has appeared in historical documentaries that have aired on CBS, NBC, KET, CBS Sports Network and TruTV.

Smith, who also served as director of the African American Studies and Research Program at UK from 1997 to 2005, is currently researching and writing a new general history on Kentucky African Americans. He has won numerous awards for his scholarship and teaching.

The Chautauqua event is sponsored by EKU’s African and African American Studies Program, the Office of Diversity, EKU Multicultural Center, EKU Honors and the Department of Anthropology, Sociology and Social Work.

For more information about the 2015-16 Chautauqua Lecture Series, visit www.chautauqua.eku.edu or contact Chautauqua Lecture Coordinator Dr. Erik Liddell at erik.liddell@eku.edu.