The Africana Studies and Research Center (ASRC) will present a panel discussion, "Thinking Through Michelle Obama: Black Studies and Black Feminism," Monday, Oct. 15, at 4:30 p.m. as part of the fall colloquium, "Race and the Presidency, Part II."

Panelists will explore the ways in which the emergence of Michelle Obama as the first black first lady has widened the space for thinking about gender, race, class, geography and other questions of identity in relation to black women, as well as the status of the black family.

The panel features invited speaker Beverly Guy-Sheftall, founding director of the Women's Research and Resource Center and professor of women's studies at Spelman College, and Cornell ASRC faculty Carole Boyce-Davies, Noliwe Rooks and Riché Richardson.

The yearlong ASRC series "Freedom, Citizenship and Democracy," which includes the colloquium, explores issues including why many blacks feel shut out of the promise of American democracy and citizenship; the reactionary and sometimes racist opposition to President Obama in the U.S. public sphere; the paradoxical limitations in black social and economic progress in the U.S. despite an African-American president; and the ways in which democracy as a principle remains contested and elusive for blacks and other people of color in global contexts.

The series marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and other important milestones related to civil rights history being commemorated in 2013.

The colloquium's final fall lecture will be "Barack X: The Unknown Implications of the First Black Presidency," Oct. 25 at 4:30 p.m., with William Jelani Cobb, associate professor of history and director of the Institute of African American Studies at the University of Connecticut. His books include "The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress."

All events will be held in the ASRC Multipurpose Room, 310 Triphammer Road.

The "Race and the Presidency, Part II" colloquium is cosponsored with the Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives; the American Studies Program; Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; the Departments of English, Government, History, Music and Near Eastern Studies; Cornell Institute for Public Affairs; Cornell United Religious Work; the Office of Faculty Diversity and Development; the Freedom and Free Societies Fund in the Department of Inclusion and Workforce Diversity; Intercultural Programs; Central Diversity Officers; the Office of Inclusion and Professional Development; the Graduate School; and the Society for the Humanities.

Linda B. Glaser is staff writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.