Dr. Kevin McGruder, associate professor of history at Antioch College, will address the theme 鈥淲e Sure Do Need It Now: Developing a Plan to Counter the Attacks on Efforts to Achieve a More Equitable Society鈥� as the 2025 Black History Month Lecture at Hope College on Thursday, Feb. 27, at 3:30 p.m. in Schaap Auditorium of the Jim and Martie Bultman Student Center.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The doors will open at 3:15 p.m. There will also be an opportunity for the audience to participate in a question-and-answer panel discussion following the presentation.
The presentation will reflect on the national demonstration that followed the May, 2020 murder of George Floyd that led to a broadening of stated commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and how they were met with a campaign to distort their purposes, and more recently, to dismantle many such programs on college campuses and in private industry. As noted in the event鈥檚 description: 鈥淭he goal of the original initiatives, achieving a more equitable society is still needed. What can we do to achieve this goal?鈥�
Drawing on ideas presented in his chapter in the 2024 anthology 鈥淭he Right to Learn: Resisting the Right-Wing Attack on Academic Freedom鈥� (Beacon Press), McGruder will explain how the knowledge developed by academics can be linked with the strategies of media practitioners and community organizers to create a campaign for an equitable society that will be equal to efforts to convince Americans that an equitable society is something to fear.
Kevin McGruder鈥檚 interest in community formation led to a career in community development. Now as an academic, his research interests include African American institutions, urban history and LGBTQ history.
He has a B.A. in economics from Harvard University, an M.B.A. in real estate finance from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in U.S. history from the City University of New York. He is co-author of 鈥淲itness: Two Hundred Years of African-American Faith and Practice at the Abyssinian Baptist Church of Harlem, New York.鈥� He is author of 鈥淩ace and Real Estate: Conflict and Cooperation in Harlem, 1890-1920鈥� (2015) and 鈥淧hilip Payton: The Father of Black Harlem鈥� (2021), and editor of 鈥淗ome at Last: The Collected Writings of AIDS Journalist LeRoy Whitfield鈥� (2022). He is a producer of 鈥淟oud as the Rolling Sea,鈥� a podcast focusing on African Americans past and present in Yellow Springs, Ohio, that is broadcast on WYSO public radio station.
February is national Black History Month. The lecture is being presented by the college鈥檚 Center for Diversity and Inclusion in collaboration with the Black Student Union, and the Office of Culture and Inclusive Excellence.
To inquire about accessibility or if you need accommodations to fully participate in the event, please email accommodations@hope.edu. Updates related to events are posted when available at hope.edu/calendar in the individual listings.
The Jim and Martie Bultman Student Center is at 115 E. 12th St., at the center of the Hope campus between College and Columbia avenues along the former 12th Street. Schaap Auditorium is near the building鈥檚 southwest corner.