SU Honors College Hosts 'Racial Diversity and Inclusion' Book Discussion Groups

SALISBURY, MD---Salisbury University’s Honors College hosts two book discussion groups this semester on “Racial Diversity and Inclusion in the United States.”

The initiative is held in conjunction with SU’s Multiple Dimensions of Inequality speaker series.

Participants will read two books — Revolutionaries to Race Leaders: Black Power and the Making of African American Politics by Cedric Johnson and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates — and meet five times during the semester to discuss them.

Readers selecting the Monday reading group will meet on September 12 and 26, October 3 and 24, and November 14. Those choosing the Tuesday reading group will meet on September 13 and 27, October 4 and 25, and November 15. Meeting times are noon-1 p.m. at the Honors Center. The Honors College will provide lunch.

“Our hope is that the lunchtime sessions will provide a forum for students, staff and faculty members to discuss larger issues related to racial inequality in the United States,” said Dr. James Buss, dean of the Honors College.

Johnson serves as this semester’s Multiple Dimensions of Inequality Lecturer at 6 p.m. Thursday, September 29, in Perdue Hall’s Bennett Family Auditorium. The associate professor of African American studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago discusses “Ending the Police Crisis: What Must Be Done and Who Is Going to Do It.” His presentation is sponsored by the Political Science and Sociology departments, Fulton School of Liberal Arts, and Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (PACE).

The Honors College hosts an invitation-only reception and book signing with Johnson for reading group participants on Friday, September 30, at the Honors Center. SU community members agreeing to attend all five discussions throughout the semester will receive a free copy of his book, Revolutionaries to Race Leaders.

Winner of the W.E.B. DuBois Outstanding Book Award, the book recounts the Black Power movement of the 1960s, through which activists transformed the face of American government. Johnson argues that the evolution of the movement ultimately restricted the struggle for social justice to the world of formal politics.

In Between the World and Me (a New York Times bestseller, National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Between the World and Me, Coates attempts to describe what it’s like to be African American, and how African Americans can reckon with history and free themselves from its burden via a letter to his adolescent son. The author is a past speaker in the Multiple Dimensions of Inequality series.

SU community members may borrow Coates’ book from the Honors College’s lending library beginning the first week of October. All copies must be returned by the end of the semester. Those borrowing the book must agree to read both books and attend all five sessions.

Community members are invited to join the reading groups, but must provide their own copies of the books. Advance registration is required.

To sign up for a reading group, email Buss at jjbuss@salisbury.edu, including “Book Club” in the subject line and denoting a preference of the Monday or Tuesday group. Space is limited.

For more information call 410-677-6556 or visit the Honors College website at www.salisbury.edu/honors.