Undercover work of journalist Grace Halsell topic of Carl Becker Lectures April 16-18

Robin D.G. Kelley

The late Grace Halsell, an American journalist who wrote about her experiences going undercover as a black woman, an undocumented worker from Mexico and a right-wing Christian fundamentalist, will be the topic of the 2018 Carl Becker Lecture Series. Historian Robin D.G. Kelley will draw on his latest book project, a biography of Halsell, in his visit to Cornell’s Ithaca campus April 16-18.

The series, “A Female Candide: Inside the U.S. Empire with Ms. Grace Halsell,” will include three lectures: “War Zones, Hot and Cold (1950-1967)” Monday, April 16; “In the Colonies of North America (1968-1978)” Tuesday, April 17; and “Stranger in the Holy Land (1979-1986)” Wednesday, April 18. All talks will be in Lewis Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall, at 4:30 p.m.

“Professor Kelley has deeply influenced generations of historians and activists,” said Penny Von Eschen, Cornell’s L. Sanford and Jo Mills Reis Professor of Humanities and chair of the Becker 2018 Series. “His scholarship – ranging from books on black working class politics to works on jazz, black transnationalism and black surrealism – has greatly enriched our appreciation of the astonishing depth and creativity of black radical traditions and the black radical imagination.”

Kelley is distinguished professor and the Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research focuses on the history of social movements within the United States, the African Diaspora and Africa. His most recent book, “Africa Speaks, America Answers!: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times” (2012), explores the lives of four artists during the age of African decolonization.

The Carl Becker Lectures Series is sponsored by the Department of History and has brought distinguished historians to speak at Cornell for more than three decades.

Agnes Shin is a communications assistant for the College of Arts and Sciences.

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