TROY, N.Y. — Ibram X. Kendi, the New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist, will speak in the concert hall at EMPAC, the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, at 1:45 p.m. on Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month.

Hosted by the Rensselaer Union Speakers Forum, the event is free and open to the public. Pre-registration online is required. Follow this link to register for the event.

Kendi is the founding director of the Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University in Washington, D.C. A professor of history and international relations and a frequent public speaker, Kendi is also a columnist at The Atlantic. In addition to How to Be An Antiracist, he is the author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and The Black Campus Movement, which won the W.E.B. Du Bois Book Prize.

“Dr. Kendi’s visit provides Rensselaer with the opportunity to advance our multicultural sophistication by engaging us in a high-quality conversation on the true nature of racism,” said Miciah Z. Yehudah, the assistant director for multicultural affairs in the office of student activities at Rensselaer. “His work offers us an opportunity to explore a methodology that challenges us to become increasingly active, intentionally assertive, and uncompromisingly committed in our efforts to transform the world.”

Kendi has been featured on numerous national media outlets, including CBS This Morning, NPR, and The Washington Post. In March 2020, he will publish a young adult “remix” of one of his previous books called Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, which was co-authored with bestselling author and poet Jason Reynolds. He is also slated to release a children’s board book called Antiracist Baby with illustrations by Ashley Lukashevsky in June 2020.

Media outlets interested in covering this event must contact Rensselaer media relations in advance.