Dr. Jennifer L. Eberhardt
Award-winning social psychologist and one of the world’s leading experts on unconscious bias
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
National Book Award-winning historian and New York Times-bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist
“ The opposite of
'racist' isn’t 'not racist.'
It is 'antiracist.'”
'racist' isn’t 'not racist.'
It is 'antiracist.'”
Photo credit: Stephen Voss
Ibram X. Kendi is author of five straight #1 New York Times bestsellers, including How to Be an Antiracist and the National Book Award-winning Stamped From The Beginning: A Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. In 2020, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. His relentless and passionate research puts into question the notion of a post-racial society and opens readers' and audiences' eyes to the reality of racism in America today. Kendi's events are sharp, informative, and hopeful, serving as a strong platform for any institution's discussions on racial discrimination.
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About Ibram X. Kendi
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, and the founding director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a CBS News racial justice contributor. His relentless and passionate research puts into question the notion of a post-racial society and opens readers’ and audiences’ eyes to the reality of racism in America today. Dr. Kendi’s lectures are sharp, informative, and hopeful, serving as a strong platform for any institution’s discussions on racism and being antiracist.
Dr. Kendi is also the author of many highly acclaimed books including Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, making him the youngest ever winner of that award. He had also produced five straight #1 New York Times bestsellers, including How to Be an Antiracist, Antiracist Baby, and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, co-authored by Jason Reynolds.
Dr. Kendi, alongside the award-winning historian Dr. Keisha N. Blain, also edited Four Hundred Souls, a choral history of African Americans covering four hundred years in the voices of ninety writers. In 2020, Time magazine named Dr. Kendi one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
He was awarded a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the Genius Grant. His forthcoming book, How to Raise an Antiracist (June 2022), combines vital scholarship with a compelling personal narrative of his own journey as a parent to create a work whose advice is grounded in research and relatable real-world experience.
Dr. Kendi has published numerous essays in periodicals, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, The Huffington Post, and The Root. The Black Campus Movement, his book on Black student protests and the racial reconstitution of higher education, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, won the W.E.B. Du Bois Book Prize.
He has received research fellowships, grants, and visiting appointments from a variety of universities, foundations, professional associations, and libraries, including the American Historical Association, Library of Congress, National Academy of Education, Lyndon B. Johnson Library & Museum, Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis, Brown University, Princeton University, Duke University, University of Chicago, and UCLA.
Recently, Dr. Kendi was elected to the prestigious Society of American Historians and named a 2021 Young Global Leader, the World Economic Forum’s annual class of the most promising leaders around the globe under the age of 40.
Visit Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s Company Reads page to learn how he helps corporations build an antiracist world.
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Ibram Kendi
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Speaking Topics
Racist Ideas in America: From Slavery To Black Lives Matter
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is one of the nation’s most prolific and accomplished young professors of race, writing for and speaking to both scholarly and general audiences. This lecture builds on Dr. Kendi’s firm belief that in order to understand racism in America today, we must confront the history of anti-Black ideas. Dr. Kendi traces this history of racist ideas; beginning in 15th century Europe when racist ideas were used to legitimize slave trade, up until modern day America when unarmed human beings were being killed at the hands of law enforcement officials and #BlackLivesMatter was born. In shedding light on the history of racist ideas, he gives his audience the tools to expose them and reason to hope for the future.
How To Be An Antiracist
When the first Black president headed into the White House, Americans were imagining their nation as colorblind and went so far as to call it post-racial. After the arrival of Donald Trump and the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, many people began to awaken and see racial reality for the first time. With opened minds, people are actively trying to understand racism. In this deeply personal and empowering lecture, Dr. Kendi shifts the discussion from how not to be racist, to how to be an antiracist. He shares his own racist ideas and how he overcame them. He provides direction to people and institutions who want more than just band-aid programs, but actual antiracist action that builds an antiracist America.
Categories: Bestselling Author Speakers, Black History Month Speakers, College + University Speakers, Company Reads Speakers, Current + Social Issues Speakers, Diversity + Inclusion Speakers, First-Year Experience Speakers, History Speakers, Law and Ethics Speakers, Library + Community Reads Speakers, MacArthur Fellow Speakers, Politics Speakers, Social Justice Speakers, Young Adult Author Speakers -
Video
Critical race theory helps explain how race, racism permeates the law and society, says professor
https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/critical-race-theory-helps-explain-how-race-racism-permeates-the-law-and-society-says-professor-115393093571
Antiracist scholar Ibram X. Kendi reacts to Chauvin’s guilty verdict
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/antiracist-scholar-ibram-x-kendi-reacts-to-chauvins-guilty-verdict/
Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi – “Stamped” and the Story of Racism in the U.S. – Extended Interview
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/lvyx2i/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-jason-reynolds—ibram-x–kendi—-stamped–and-the-story-of-racism-in-the-u-s—-extended-interview
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Praise for Ibram X. Kendi
Praise for Four Hundred Souls
From journalist Hannah P. Jones on Jamestown’s first slaves to historian Annette Gordon-Reed’s portrait of Sally Hemings to the seductive cadences of poets Jericho Brown and Patricia Smith, Four Hundred Souls weaves a tapestry of unspeakable suffering and unexpected transcendence.
— O: The Oprah MagazineA vital addition to [the] curriculum on race in America . . . a gateway to the solo works of all the voices in Kendi and Blain’s impressive choir.
— The Washington PostPraise for Stamped
"Sheer brilliance....An empowering, transformative read. Bravo."
— Jewell Parker Rhodes, New York Times bestselling author of Ghost BoysAn amazingly timely and stunningly accessible manifesto for young people....At times funny, at times somber but always packed with relevant information that is at once thoughtful and spot-on, Stamped is the book I wish I had as a young person and am so grateful my own children have now.
— Jacqueline Woodson, bestselling and National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl DreamingPraise for How to Be an Antiracist
Kendi dissects why in a society where so few people consider themselves to be racist the divisions and inequalities of racism remain so prevalent. How to Be an Antiracist punctures the myths of a post-racial America, examining what racism really is—and what we should do about it.
— TimeIbram X. Kendi’s new book, How to Be an Antiracist, couldn’t come at a better time. . . . Kendi has gifted us with a book that is not only an essential instruction manual but also a memoir of the author’s own path from anti-black racism to anti-white racism and, finally, to antiracism. . . . How to Be an Antiracist gives us a clear and compelling way to approach, as Kendi puts it in his introduction, ‘the basic struggle we’re all in, the struggle to be fully human and to see that others are fully human.’
— NPRIbram Kendi is today’s visionary in the enduring struggle for racial justice. In this personal and revelatory new work, he yet again holds up a transformative lens, challenging both mainstream and antiracist orthodoxy. He illuminates the foundations of racism in revolutionary new ways, and I am consistently challenged and inspired by his analysis. How to Be an Antiracist offers us a necessary and critical way forward.
— Robin DiAngelo, New York Times bestselling author of White FragilityIbram Kendi’s work, through both his books and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center, is vital in today’s sociopolitical climate. As a society, we need to start treating antiracism as action, not emotion—and Kendi is helping us do that.
— Ijeoma Oluo, author of So You Want to Talk About RaceIbrahim Kendi uses his own life journey to show us why becoming an antiracist is as essential as it is difficult. Equal parts memoir, history, and social commentary, this book is honest, brave, and most of all liberating.
— James Forman, Jr., Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Locking Up Our OwnA boldly articulated, historically informed explanation of what exactly racist ideas and thinking are . . . [Kendi’s] prose is thoughtful, sincere, and polished. This powerful book will spark many conversations.
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)A combination of memoir and extension of [Kendi’s] towering Stamped from the Beginning . . . Never wavering . . . Kendi methodically examines racism through numerous lenses: power, biology, ethnicity, body, culture, and so forth. . . . This unsparing honesty helps readers, both white and people of color, navigate this difficult intellectual territory. . . . Essential.
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)In this sharp blend of social commentary and memoir . . . Kendi is ready to spread his message, his stories serving as a springboard for potent explorations of race, gender, colorism, and more. . . . With Stamped From the Beginning, Kendi proved himself a first-rate historian. Here, his willingness to turn the lens on himself marks him as a courageous activist, leading the way to a more equitable society.
— Library Journal (starred review)Praise for Stamped from the Beginning
This heavily researched yet easily readable volume explores the roots and the effects of racism in America. The narrative smoothly weaves throughout history, culminating in the declaration that as much as we’d like it to be, America today is nowhere near the “postracial” country that the media declared following the election of Barack Obama in 2008. The hope here is that by studying and remembering the lessons of history, we may be able to move forward to an equitable society.
— BooklistAn intricate look at the history of race in the U.S., arguing that many well-meaning American progressives inadvertently operate on belief systems tinged with a racist heritage.
— TimeA deep (and often disturbing) chronicling of how anti-black thinking has entrenched itself in the fabric of American society.
— The AtlanticIn this tour de force, Kendi explores the history of racist ideas—and their connection with racist practices—across American history. Racism is the enduring scar on the American consciousness. In this ambitious, magisterial book, Kendi reveals just how deep that scar cuts and why it endures, its barely subcutaneous pain still able to flare.
— Kirkus (starred review) -
Books by Ibram X. Kendi
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Featured Title
How to Be an Antiracist
“What do you do after you have written Stamped From the Beginning, an award-winning history of racist ideas? . . . If you’re Ibram X. Kendi, you craft another stunner of a book. . . . What emerges from these insights is the most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind, a confessional of self-examination that may, in fact, be our best chance to free ourselves from our national nightmare.”—The New York Times
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