The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, a prominent modern-day social activist, will be the featured speaker at the 2023 Edward Shapiro Distinguished Lecture Series hosted by the College of Arts and Letters at The University of Toledo.
The annual Edward Shapiro Distinguished Lecture is 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14, at Doermann Theatre in University Hall. The event is free and open to the public and ASL interpreters will be provided. Parking is free in Area 1N off University Hills Boulevard. RSVPs and tickets are not required.
The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II.
Described by Dr. Cornel West as “the closest person we have to Martin Luther King, Jr. in our midst,” Barber is the co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, a relaunch of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1968 campaign against poverty.
Barber served as pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina for 30 years and is the founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School. He is also the recipient of a dozen honorary degrees, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award and has received a MacArthur Fellowship.
“Barber’s committed activism [has] both prefigured and contributed to the rebirth of direct-action protest in the 21st century, a powerful and important legacy for young people today who dare to believe a better world is possible,” said Dr. Michael Stauch, an assistant professor in UToledo’s Department of History.
The annual lecture is made possible by the Shapiro endowment left by the late Dr. Edward Shapiro, professor emeritus of economics who retired in 1989, to provide opportunities for the University to bring world-renowned speakers to Toledo.
Past Shapiro Distinguished Lecture speakers include Tony Kushner, Elie Wiesel, Toni Morrison, Audra McDonald, Wynton Marsalis and Jon Meacham.
For more information on Barber’s Edward Shapiro Distinguished Lecture, visit the lecture webpage on UToledo’s website or the lecture’s Facebook event.
