Renowned scholar, distinguished public servant and social justice activist Mary Frances Berry will speak at UB on April 5 as part of the African American Studies Endowed Lecture Series.

Her lecture, “History Teaches Us to Resist: Struggles and Progress in Challenging Times,” will take place from 3-4:30 p.m. in the Cellino and Barnes Conference Center, 509 O’Brian Hall, North Campus. The lecture will also be available virtually via Zoom. Registration is required to receive the zoom link.

Berry is Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought Emerita at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the recipient of 35 honorary degrees and numerous awards, including the NAACP’s Roy Wilkins Award, the Rosa Parks Award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Ebony Magazine Black Achievement Award. She is one of 75 women featured in “I Dream A World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America.”

Berry has had a distinguished career in public service. She was a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1980 to 2004, serving as its chair from 1993-2004. She was assistant secretary for education in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare from 1977-80, and has served as provost of the University of Maryland and chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The event is co-sponsored by the Department of Africana and American Studies, the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy and the School of Law with support from the Department of History, the Gender Institute and the Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies.

To learn more, visit the Department of Africana and American Studies website.

The lecture series was established through an endowed lectureship fund by Lillian S. Williams, associate professor of Africana and American studies and former chair of the Department of African American Studies to bring renowned national and international scholars to campus.