THE COMMUNITY HOUR

Hosted by Allyson Hobbs, Associate Professor of American History, Director of African and African American Studies, Stanford University

"The Community Hour" is a "town square" that encourages conversations about racial injustice and seeks to create a sense of belonging and togetherness during these chaotic times.

The Community Hour began in March to provide a weekly space for confidential conversations for Stanford students during the upheavals caused by the pandemic. In late April, Allyson began to invite guest speakers who are among the most well known and widely read scholars in a variety of academic fields.

The Community Hour brings together faculty, staff, alumni, undergraduates, and graduate students at Stanford and is open to the public. Sponsored by Stanford Continuing Studies, it is a collaboration between African and African American Studies and the History Department. The Community Hour is live via Zoom; registration is required. To sign up for email announcements about the Community Hour: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/stanford_community_hour

• January 10 at 1:00 pm (PT): Jonathan Holloway, the 21st president of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. **This event has been cancelled. We will update the website with more information as it becomes available.**
   
• March 7 at 1:00 pm (PT): Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian. REGISTER >

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Past Speakers Include: 

• Michael Tubbs, Mayor of Stockton, CA, Stanford Class of 2012
• Margot Canaday (History, Princeton)
• Nicole Fleetwood (American Studies & Art History, Rutgers)
• Kevin Kruse (History, Princeton)
• Heather Thompson, winner of a Pulitzer Prize in 2017 and a Bancroft Prize in 2017, (History, University of Michigan)
• Poet Nikky Finney, winner of a National Book Award for Poetry in 2011
• Jelani Cobb, contributing staff writer at the New Yorker
• Imani Perry (African American Studies, Princeton)
• Fred Moten (Performance Studies, Tisch School of the Arts; NYU)
• Daphne Brooks (African American Studies, Theater Studies, American Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Yale)
• Jennifer Nash (Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies; Duke)
• Ruha Benjamin (African American Studies, Princeton)
• Claudia Rankine, winner of a MacArthur "Genius" Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship, (Poetry & African American Studies, Yale)
• Stephanie McCurry, Professor of History, Columbia University
• Kiese Laymon, Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi
• Kenneth Mack, Professor of Law and Affiliate Professor of History, Harvard University
• Tracy K. Smith, Director of Princeton's Program in Creative Writing, Princeton University
• Karla F.C. Holloway, James B. Duke Professor of English at Duke University
• Salamishah Tillet, Henry Rutgers Professor of African American Studies and Creative Writing at Rutgers University–Newark
• Eddie Glaude Jr., James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University

 
About the host:
Allyson Hobbs is an Associate Professor of American History, the Director of African and African American Studies, and the Kleinheinz Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. She is a contributing writer to The New Yorker and a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, The Nation, The Guardian, Politico, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. She has appeared on C-SPAN, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and the BBC. Allyson’s first book, A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life, published by Harvard University Press in 2014, won the Organization of American Historians’ Frederick Jackson Turner Prize for the best first book in American history and the Lawrence Levine Prize for the best book in American cultural history. The book was also selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2014, a “Best 15 Nonfiction Books by Black Authors in 2014” by The Root, a featured book in the New York Times Book Review Paperback Row in 2016, and a Paris Review “What Our Writers Are Reading This Summer” Selection in 2017.

"All artwork courtesy of the artist, Constance Brantley. Please visit https://constancebrantley.com/ for more information about the artist and her work."

Questions? Contact: [email protected]