Dr. Ibram X. Kendi Lecture
Rescheduled from March 2020, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi will be the Self Graduate Fellowship’s featured Symposium speaker for fall 2021. Kendi, one of America’s foremost historians and leading antiracist voices, will present “How To Be An Anticracist: A conversation with Ibram X. Kendi” at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, October 7, 2021, at the Lied Center of Kansas. His talk is free and open to the public, but tickets are required.
Joining Kendi on stage will be Dr. Kevin Willmott. In addition to being a Professor of Film for the University of Kansas, Willmott is an Academy Award-winning film director and screenwriter. He is known for work focusing on black issues including writing and directing Ninth Street, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America, and Bunker Hill. Willmott collaborated with Spike Lee on BlacKkKlansman, for which they won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
In addition to the lecture, the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging and the Office of Multicultural Affairs will be hosting related events to provide the campus with ongoing conversation around Dr. Kendi’s work. As those opportunities are announced they will also be shared here.
Ticket Information
Tickets are free and available through the Lied Center of Kansas Box Office starting on the following dates.
- Tuesday, September 7: KU student ID
- Tuesday, September 14: Any KUID
- Friday, September 17: General Public
Additional ticket details:
- Tickets are only available for in-person pick up and are limited to two tickets per person.
- Prior to September 17, a KUID must be presented at the Lied Center Box Office for ticket pick up.
- Doors open at 2:30p.m.
- Tickets expire at 3:15p.m.
- Bags will be checked at the door.
About Ibram X. Kendi: Kendi is a New York Times bestselling author, professor of history and international relations, and the founding Director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. Kendi is the author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction. At 34 years old, he was the youngest ever winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction. He is also the author of The Black Campus Movement, which won the W.E.B. Du Bois Book Prize.
About the Self Graduate Fellowship: The Self Graduate Fellowship Symposium Lecture is sponsored by the Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship. The mission of the Self Graduate Fellowship is to identify, recruit, and provide development opportunities for exceptional doctoral students in business, economics, engineering, mathematics, biological, biomedical, pharmaceutical, and physical sciences who demonstrate the promise to make significant contributions to their fields of study and society as a whole.
The late Madison “Al” and Lila Self launched and permanently endowed the Self Graduate Fellowship in 1989. The creation of the Self Graduate Fellowship was motivated by Madison and Lila’s belief in the vital importance of developing leadership for tomorrow. They are the University of Kansas’ most generous private donors to date. This is held in partnership with the following units: Self Graduate Programs; Graduate Studies; Academic Success; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging; and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.