Claflin University’s Center for Social Justice will partner with the First-Year Experience program and the college’s First Lady, Mrs. Warmack, to present a virtual program by author Danielle Allen to Claflin and the wider South Carolina community. The novel Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A. will be the topic of the reading and virtual discussion. The program will take place on Tuesday, March 9 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. SC Humanities supported this program with a Fast Track Literary Grant.
Danielle Allen is Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics and James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. She is a political theorist who has published broadly in democratic theory, political sociology, and the history of political thought. Widely known for her work on justice and citizenship in both ancient Athens and modern America, Allen is the author of The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens (2000), Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown vs. the Board of Education (2004), Why Plato Wrote (2010), Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality (2014), Education and Equality (2016), and Cuz (2017). She is the co-editor of the award-winning Education, Justice, and Democracy (2013, with Rob Reich) and From Voice to Influence: Understanding Citizenship in the Digital Age (2015, with Jennifer Light).
Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A. is a memoir that tells the story of Allen’s cousin Michael and his experiences with the justice and prison systems.
Dr. Belinda Wheeler, Director of the Center for Social Justice and Associate Professor of English at Claflin University, wrote, “Claflin’s Center for Social Justice is intentional about working with members of the wider SC community to have meaningful conversations about various critically important topics including social justice, racial equity, and mass incarceration. This literary project connects the ‘here and now’ reality for many in South Carolina with an important literary text, enabling us to have difficult yet informative discussion around these important issues.”
Registration for the virtual event is available here: https://claflin-edu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ca7Q-fRoTv6rU5mT3DAZJA.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c) 3 organization is governed by a volunteer 21-member Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and/or supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually.
