Speaker: Heather Neff, Ph.D., Director, McNair Scholars Program, Professor of English, Eastern Michigan University. Dr. Neff is the author of six novels, including "Wisdom," a designated Honor Book by the American Library Association. She earned her master's and Ph.D. at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

"Womanism," a term coined by African-American author and cultural critic Alice Walker, describes a movement for the social and political recognition of the needs of women of color. Defiant towards traditional feminism, Womanism argued that feminism not only ignored the burdens created by racism and economic inequality, but also did little to address such social disparities. Writers such as Walker, Audre Lorde, Gloria Naylor, and Toni Morrison embraced the Womanist ethic, offering a challenge to the Feminist Movement, and creating some of the most powerful social fiction of the twentieth century.