Dr. Robin Kelley is Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Kelley’s research explores the history of social movements in the U.S., the African Diaspora, black intellectuals; music and visual culture; contemporary urban studies; and poverty studies and ethnography among other topics. Kelley is the author of numerous books including Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class (1996), Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original (2009), and Africa Speaks, America Answers!: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times (2012).

His research has also appeared in diverse publications including the Journal of American History, American Historical Review, Black Music Research Journal, African Studies Review, New York Times (Arts and Leisure), New York Times Magazine, The Crisis, The Nation and many others.

Dr. Kelley’s lecture, “The Two Souths of ‘68: Remembering Revolution in these Hard Times” will explore how everyday acts of resistance and survival shaped and changed the lives of civil rights activists and what led to the defeat of revolutionary insurgencies in the late 1960s U.S. south and global South. Kelley asks to what extent these histories relate to and can inform the current landscape of American civil rights movements and national politics. An open Q&A with the speaker will follow the lecture.

Sponsored by the History Department, Organization of American Historians, Norris and Kathryn Preyer Lecture Series. Admission is free and open to the public.

The Norris and Kathryn Preyer Lecture Series is made possible through the generosity of the late Dr. Norris Preyer and Mrs. Kathryn Preyer, longtime members of the Queens University of Charlotte community. Dr. Preyer came to Queens in 1957 and later became chair of the History Department. Kathryn Preyer is an honorary alumna and received the distinguished Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award in 1974.

Please note: In advance of the Preyer Lecture, the Preyer family is hosting a Wine and Cheese Reception in Ketner Auditorium Lobby beginning at 5:45 p.m. All are welcome.