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Anthropologist Michael Blakey to deliver 2023 James Weldon Johnson Distinguished Lecture
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Elaine Justice
 Michael L. Blakey

Anthropologist Michael L. Blakey will speak at Emory on April 20.

Anthropologist Michael L. Blakey will deliver the annual James Weldon Johnson Distinguished Lecture at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 20, in Convocation Hall on the Emory University campus. Blakey will speak on “The Blinding Light of Race in Science and Society.” This year’s lecture is co-sponsored with Emory Science Gallery. 

Tickets are free with an Emory ID and $1 for the public at the door. Seating is limited to 120. Register for the program.

The full title of Blakey’s talk is "Beyond the Blinding Light of Race: A Social History of Scientific Racism; A Black Scholar's Persistent Critiques and Alternatives; and the Need for the Democratization of Science.” The topic is based on Blakey’s current book project, which explores themes of race and racism in science and society.

Blakey is National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Anthropology, Africana Studies, and American Studies, and Founding Director of the Institute for Historical Biology at the College of William & Mary. Formerly, he served as scientific director of the New York African Burial Ground Project (1992-2009), the most sophisticated bioarchaeological project in the United States.


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