The Equity and Campus Diversity Office is happy to announce the annual Martin Luther King Jr. 2018 celebration, featuring keynote speaker Kevin Powell, writer and activist, who will visit campus Thursday, February 8, in the Burchfield Penney Art Center.
Kevin Powell is widely considered one of America's leading political and cultural voices in these early years of the 21st century. A long-time activist and award-winning writer, Powell was born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, and is the product of a single mother led household, extreme poverty, fatherlessness, and violence. In spite of these harsh circumstances, Powell studied at Rutgers University in New Jersey and he has become one of the most prolific and respected writers and leaders of his generation.
He is the author or editor of eleven books, including his newest, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, and The Ghost of Dr. King. Additionally, Powell’s writings have appeared in a range of publications including the Washington Post, Newsweek, Essence, Ebony, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Vibe, where he was a senior writer for several years documenting, most famously, the life and times of the late Tupac Shakur.
As an activist, Powell has worked on a range of concerns, including voter registration, Hurricane Katrina relief, education, the environment, and eradicating poverty. As an extension of his activism work, Powell also routinely does college, corporate, and community lectures across America and internationally, and he is a frequent presence on television and radio offering his commentary on a range of issues, including on the Oprah Show where he was a part of the national conversation on domestic violence and how men can help to end the assault on women and girls.
Powell is not only a writer and activist, but also a business owner, and he has a particularly keen interest, these days, in community development and incubating small and medium-sized American businesses.
Finally, a longtime and proud resident of Brooklyn, New York, Kevin Powell was a Democratic candidate for Congress in Brooklyn in 2008.
More info at www.Facebook.com/BurchfieldPenney