Michael Eric Dyson

Author to Speak at Next Chautauqua Lecture

The next lecture in the Chautauqua Lecture Series, “Nature’s Humans,” will feature scholar, author and cultural critic Michael Eric Dyson

Dyson, named one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans by Ebony magazine, will present “Pride and Humans” on Thursday, Feb. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in O’Donnell Hall, located in the Student Success Building (formerly the Student Services Building).

Hailed as one of the nation’s most inspiring African Americans, the two-time NAACP Image Award winner has been credited with revitalizing the role of the public intellectual with the fervor of an ordained Baptist minister. Currently a professor of sociology at Georgetown University, Dyson is the author of 17 books, including “Holler if You Hear Me,” “Is Bill Cosby Right?” and “I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King Jr.”

In his Chautauqua lecture, the keynote address for EKU’s celebration of Black History Month, Dyson will look at the many dimensions of pride – a many-sided human emotion that can be an indispensable virtue or a deadly sin.

In his multifaceted look at this “virtuous vice,” he will discuss the philosophical and theological roots of pride, its transformation in Western culture, and how he feels black pride keeps blacks from being degraded and excluded by white pride, which can be invisible, unspoken, but nonetheless very powerful. Dyson will also offer a glimpse into the teachers and books that shaped his personal pride and vocation.

For more information about EKU’s Chautauqua Series, visit chautauqua.eku.edu or contact coordinator Dr. Minh Nguyen at minh.nguyen@eku.edu.