Noted author to deliver keynote address for Black History Month

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Arnold Rampersad

February 6, 2012

Special to the Register The Richmond Register Mon Feb 06, 2012, 10:30 AM EST

RICHMOND — Almost a year ago, Arnold Rampersad stood in the East Room of the White House as he was presented the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama.

On Thursday, Feb. 16, the noted author will stand in O’Donnell Hall of Eastern Kentucky University’s Student Success Building to deliver the keynote address for the university’s Black History Month observance. Rampersad’s visit is also part of Eastern’s year-long Chautauqua lecture series, and the title of his talk, “Black History: The Challenge of Living with Others,” coincides with this year’s Chautauqua theme, “Living with Others: Challenges and Promises.”

The event, free and open to the public, begins at 7:30 p.m. It is sponsored by the Office of the Associate Provost for Diversity Planning, Department of Foreign Languages and Humanities, African/ African-American Studies Program, and Office of Multicultural Student Affairs.

Rampersad was one of 10 individuals to receive the National Humanities Medal on March 2, 2011. The honor recognizes “individuals whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities and the human condition.”

In an interview with The Root online magazine after the receiving the prestigious award, Rampersad said he seeks in his writing “to illuminate the profound humanity of black Americans. It has always been my pleasure and my challenge to stick close to the facts of the situation, but also to bring out the depth and richness that is in African-American life.”

The Sara Hart Kimball Professor Emeritus in the Humanities at Stanford University, Rampersad is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including the two-volume “Life of Langston Hughes,” “The Art and Imagination of W.E.B. Dubois,” “Jackie Robinson: A Biography,” “Days of Grace: A Memoir” (co-authored with Arthur Ashe); and, most recently, “Ralph Ellison: A Biography,” a finalist for the National Book Award.

He also was co-editor of “Slavery and the Literary Imagination” and of the “Race and American Culture” book series.

Rampersad was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography, and he served for two years on the Pulitzer panel of judges.

He has taught at such leading universities as Harvard, Columbia, Princeton and Stanford and, from 1991 to 1996, held a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.

For more information on the EKU Chautauqua lecture series, visit www.chautauqua.eku.edu or contact Director Dr. Minh Nguyen at minh.nguyen@eku.edu.

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