2025 Betty Chmaj Lecture

Robin D. G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor, and Gary B. Nash, Endowed Chair in U.S. History and professor of African American studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, will deliver this year’s Betty Ch’maj Distinguished American Studies Lecture.
His many notable publications include Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times (2012); Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original (2009); Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination (2002); Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class (1994); and Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression (1990).

The Annual Betty Ch’maj Distinguished American Studies Lecture Series, established to honor Betty Ch'maj's legacy, was made possible with generous support from the Ch’maj family. In 1961, Ch’maj received the very first Ph.D. in American Culture at Michigan. She continued her career researching American literature and music, founding the Radical Caucus of the American Studies Association in the 1970s and working to challenge systemic gender discrimination in American Studies programs.

Kelley’s lecture will draw historical lessons and parallels between our current moment and 1962, the year of Dr. Betty Ch’maj’s landmark essay, “Paranoid Patriotism: The Radical Right and the South.” From the resurgence of the Klan to the rise of the alt-right, Kelley will explore how the extreme Right is no longer just extreme but mainstream and why our current era may be more dangerous and reactionary than any other in modern U.S. history. 

Agenda:
4:00 PM Arrival
4:15 PM Intro: Sara Awartani
4:30 PM Main Lecture: Robin D.G. Kelley
5:30 PM Q&A Session
5:50 PM Closing Remarks
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM Reception & Networking

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Free and Open to the Public

Reception to Follow.

Registration is not mandatory but is encouraged.