Evanston Township High School will host “Our Racial Moment of Truth” with Isabel Wilkerson on Monday, November 16 at 7:00 p.m. in the school auditorium. Presented in partnership with the Family Action Network (FAN), the event is free and open to the public.
Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson is the author of The Warmth of Other Suns, which tells the true story of three people who made the decision of their lives during the Great Migration, a watershed in American history. The bestselling book won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, was named one of the best nonfiction books of all time by The New York Times Magazine, and made national news when President Obama chose the book for summer reading in 2011.
Wilkerson won the Pulitzer Prize for her work as Chicago Bureau Chief of The New York Times in 1994, making her the first black woman in the history of American journalism to win a Pulitzer Prize and the first African-American to win for individual reporting in the history of American journalism. She has lectured on narrative writing at the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University and has served as professor of journalism at Princeton, Emory, and Boston universities. Her work has garnered seven honorary degrees, most recently from Bates College and Southern Methodist University.
Wilkerson examines what can be gleaned from the Great Migration to better inform present-day racial issues. Her lectures explore the need for a modern reconstruction to help reconcile America’s troubled racial past. With the high-profile killings of unarmed African-Americans at the hands of police and civilians, many people are asking just how far have we really come since the days of Jim Crow – and the need for dialogue has never been greater. Wilkerson’s talk will address the persistence of racial injustice as a national challenge and what history can teach us as we work to resolve it.
The November 16 presentation is sponsored by Family Action Network (FAN), in partnership with the ECGC Parent Group at New Trier High School, North Shore Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., North Shore Country Day School, the Women’s Center at Northwestern University, and Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.).
ETHS is located at 1600 Dodge Ave., Evanston, 60201. The auditorium is wheelchair accessible. Guests should plan to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to 7:00pm to find parking and seats. Parking is recommended in the lot across from the main entrance, off of Dodge Avenue, or in the lots behind the high school. Parking is also available along Dodge Avenue according to posted City of Evanston signs.