What are we to make of the presidential candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris?

This lecture explores the ways that multiple American publics are making sense of the first woman of color to secure the presidential nomination of a major political party. Rooted in her expertise as a scholar of Black women’s politics and her experience in national media, Professor Harris-Perry will address what our collection reactions to the Harris candidacy tell us about ourselves and about the current state American democracy.

The Department of Women’s & Gender Studies and the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan proudly present Melissa Harris-Perry as the 2024 Vivian R. Shaw Lecturer.

Professor Melissa Harris-Perry is the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair at Wake Forest University. She is author of the award-winning Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought, and Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America. Professor Harris-Perry is founder and president of the Anna Julia Cooper Center whose mission is to advance justice through intersectional scholarship and action.

She served as the final host and managing editor of The Takeaway, a daily, national public radio program and podcast which aired on over 300 public radio stations across the country. From 2012-2016, she hosted the groundbreaking television show “Melissa Harris-Perry” on weekend mornings on MSNBC and was awarded the Hillman Prize for broadcast journalism. She served as editor-at-large for Elle.com and continues to serve as contributing editor for The Nation.

Established in 1997, the Vivian R. Shaw Lecture is presented biennially by the Institute for Research on Women & Gender and the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan. Established in 1997 by Ellen Agress, this lecture addresses “real world issues” related to women and gender.

This event is free but ticketed. Click the link to get free tickets!