Eastern Kentucky University’s annual Black History Month keynote address will examine “broken promises to black America.”
Writer, producer, commentator and academician Reniqua Allen will deliver a presentation titled “It Was All a Dream” as part of the Chautauqua Lecture Series on Thursday, Feb. 7, at 7:30 p.m. The event will be held in O’Donnell Hall in the Whitlock Building, and is free and open to the public.
Allen is currently an Eisner Fellow at the Nation Institute. Her academic work focuses on issues of race, class, social mobility and popular culture. She has completed coursework for a doctoral degree in American studies from Rutgers University, and is working on a dissertation that examines representations of the black middle class on television in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Before becoming an Eisner Fellow, she held fellowships with the New America Foundation and the think tank Demos.
Allen’s first book, “It Was All a Dream: A New Generation Confronts the Broken Promise to Black America,” was recently published. She has written articles and essays for national outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Al-Jazeera, Teen Vogue and more. In addition to her work in academia and the printed media, Allen is a veteran producer. She began her career in live news for MSNBC and FOX News Channel. She has since served as a producer for WNYC Studios, MTV, PBS and on many independent films and documentaries.
The lecture is sponsored by the Office of Diversity; the Interdisciplinary Studies Program; the Department of Communication; the Society of Professional Journalists; the Department of Anthropology, Sociology and Social Work; and the Honors Program.
For more information about the Chautauqua lecture series, visit the Chautauqua website, or contact Chautauqua Lecture Coordinator Erik Liddell at erik.liddell@eku.edu.