Acclaimed Cultural Historian Robin D.G. Kelley Comes to Brooklyn College as Hess Scholar-in-Residence

Robin D.G. Kelley, Robert L. Hess Scholar in Residence at Brooklyn College.

February 21, 2002.  One of America's most thought-provoking academics, lauded by Cornel West as "the preeminent historian of black popular culture writing today," comes to the Brooklyn College campus for the week of March 11-15 to lecture, hold discussions, and even play a little piano.

   This year's Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence has a well-deserved reputation for being a passionate and engaging speaker with a wide-ranging intellect. A professor of history and Africana studies at New York University, where he has been on the faculty since 1994, Kelly is the author of numerous books, including Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression (University of North Carolina Press, 1990), Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class (The Free Press, 1994), and Into the Fire: African Americans Since 1970 (Oxford University Press, 1996). His collection of essays, Yo' Mama's DisFunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America (Beacon Press, 1997), was selected as one of the year's top ten books by the Village Voice.

   His second collection of essays, Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination (Beacon Press, 2002) continues Kelley's ground-breaking analysis of black liberation struggles, jazz, hip-hop, working class radicalism and U.S. and African American history. His next book, Misterioso: The Art of Thelonious Monk (The Free Press, forthcoming) delves into the complex works of one of the most enigmatic and original pianists of the last century. As a culmination to the week of public lectures and discussions, Kelley, an accomplished pianist in his own right, will join saxophonist Salim Washington's jazz ensemble for a performance of Monk's work in Brooklyn College's George Gershwin Theater.

Thelonious "Sphere" Monk, 1917-1982

The following is a list of the public events in the 2002 Robert L. Hess Scholar in Residence Program. All events are free.

Monday, March 11
"Day of Reckoning: Dreams of Reparations."
Curriculum discussion for students in the School of Education, 12:15 to 2 p.m., Occidental Lounge, SUBO.

"Academia and Social Responsibility: The New World Community"
A Student Life/Student Government forum with student panelists, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Gold Room, SUBO.

Tuesday, March 12
"The Battlefield Called Life: Black Feminist Dreams"
Discussion with students in the Department of Women's Studies, 12:15 to 1:30 p.p., Occidental Lounge, SUBO.

"The Globalization of African American History"
Curriculum discussion with graduate students in the School of Education, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., Gold Room, SUBO.

Wednesday, March 13
"Jazz and Freedom Go Hand And Hand"
Robert L. Hess Memorial Lecture, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., George Gershwin Theater.

The Beacon Press will published Robin D.G. Kelley's forthcoming collection of essays in June.

 Thursday, March 14
"Race and the American Labor Movement"
Discussion with undergraduate students, 9:25 to 10:40 a.m., Occidental Lounge, SUBO.

 "Thelonious Monk and Modern Jazz"
Salim Washington Ensemble with Robin D.G. Kelley, piano. 12:15 to 1:30 p.m., George Gershwin Theater.

   The Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence Program serves as a permanent tribute to the scholarly commitment of Robert L. Hess, president of Brooklyn College from 1979 to 1992. Each year a distinguished scholar is invited to the campus to impart special insights from their disciplines, and also to address issues of concern to the Brooklyn College community. Past scholars-in-residence have included Vartan Gregorian (1993-94), Ann Douglas (1995-96), James S. Langer (1996-96) and Daniel Miller (2000-2001). The program is supported by the Robert L. Hess Fund, and members of the Hess family also serve on the committee that selects each year's scholar-in-residence. Besides being a dynamic leader of Brooklyn College, President Hess was also a prominent scholar of Ethiopian and African history, and more than 5,000 items from his personal library comprise the Hess Collection on Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa and the Robert L. Hess Collection on the Continent of Africa in the Brooklyn College Library.