Dr. Marcia Chatelain, associate professor of history and African-American studies at Georgetown University, will present the Ida Wise East Memorial Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 6. The lecture, “Better Living Through the Humanities: Teaching, Research, and Social Change,” will be held in Memorial Ballroom, Hall Campus Center. The public is invited and admission is free.
Dr. Chatelain is the author of “South Side Girls: Growing up in the Great Migration” and the forthcoming book, “From Sit-In to Drive-Thru: Black America in the Age of Fast Food.” At Georgetown, she teaches courses on African-American history, women’s activism, and food studies. She has appeared on CNN, the BBC, MSNBC, PBS, NPR, and other news outlets on segments about race, gender, social justice, and other issues.
Her upcoming lecture will address her work on “Southside Girls” and projects regarding the police-involved deaths of Freddie Gray and Michael Brown. She also will talk about her involvement with Georgetown’s Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation, which is working to tell the story of institution’s role in the history of African-American slavery.
“Her research on African-American history is excellent, but I also invited her to Lynchburg because of her public history work and political activism,” Dr. Nichole Sanders, professor of history and the John Franklin East Professor of Humanities, said. “I wanted students to see how vital the humanities are to public life, and to be able to imagine how the humanities intersects with social justice work. Dr. Chatelain’s work is an amazing example of these intersections.”
Dr. Sanders added that the lecture, which is not exclusively aimed at students, “should appeal to anyone interested in humanities and social justice.”
On the following day, Dr. Chatelain, who was recognized by The Chronicle of Higher Education as a “top influencer” in 2016, will present at a workshop on inclusive teaching. The workshop for Lynchburg faculty and staff is sponsored by the East Professorship, John M. Turner Lecture Series, the Office of Equity and Inclusion, and the Teaching and Learning Resource Center.
“Dr. Chatelain is an expert in inclusive teaching techniques,” Aaron Smith, diversity and inclusion officer for the Office of Equity and Inclusion, said, adding, “Being that we are building a culture of inclusion, both inside and outside of the classroom at Lynchburg, we thought that Dr. Chatelain would be a great resource for our faculty members.”
The Ida Wise East Memorial Lecture was established in 1979 by an endowment gift to University of Lynchburg from Mrs. Margaret East Nelson of Norfolk, Virginia, in memory of her mother, Ida Wise East, and in recognition of the lifelong interest of the East and Nelson families in the humanities. Income from the funds are used to support an annual lecture, lecture series, or seminar in the humanities.
