The Jonathan and Maxine Marshall Distinguished Lecture Series brings nationally-known scholars concerned with promoting culture through the humanities and a better understanding of the problems of democracy to ASU. This annual free public lecture is funded with a gift from Jonathan and Maxine Marshall.
2021 Lecture
A conversation with Clint Smith
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
6:30 PM MST
ARM 101, Armstrong Hall, ASU Tempe Campus
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About the Speaker
Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of the narrative nonfiction book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, which was a #1 New York Times Bestseller, and the poetry collection Counting Descent, which won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award.
He has received fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New America, the Emerson Collective, the Art For Justice Fund, Cave Canem, and the National Science Foundation. His essays, poems, and scholarly writing have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review, the Harvard Educational Review and elsewhere.
Clint is a 2014 National Poetry Slam champion and a 2017 recipient of the Jerome J. Shestack Prize from the American Poetry Review. His two TED Talks, The Danger of Silence and How to Raise a Black Son in America, collectively have been viewed more than 9 million times.
Previously, Clint taught high school English in Prince George’s County, Maryland where, in 2013, he was named the Christine D. Sarbanes Teacher of the Year by the Maryland Humanities Council. He currently teaches writing and literature in the D.C. Central Detention Facility. He is also the host of the YouTube series Crash Course Black American History.
Clint received his B.A. in English from Davidson College and his Ph.D. in Education from Harvard University. Born and raised in New Orleans, he currently lives in Maryland with his wife and their two children.
Important event details
Face coverings are required for the duration of this event. Due to room capacity limitations, seating will be limited and RSVPs are required. Once all seats have been filled and registration has closed, you can email TheCollegeEvents@asu.edu to be added to the waitlist. We will notify you via email if a seat becomes available.
Visitor parking is available in several lots and parking garages near the venue. All parking fees are the responsibility of event attendees. For a list of parking locations and associated fees, please visit https://cfo.asu.edu/daily-and-hourly.
Past lectures
| Year | Lecturer | Title |
|---|---|---|
|
2020 |
Colson Whitehead |
A conversation with Colson Whitehead and Solmaz Sharif |
| 2018 | Claudia Rankine | Award-winning author |
| 2017 | Roger Cohen | The Disunited States: Trump and the Fracturing of America |
| 2016 | Amy Goodman | Host and executive producer of Democracy Now! |
| 2015 | Jane Smiley | Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, essayist and biographer |
| 2014 | Charles Blow | Visual op-ed columnist for The New York Times |
| 2013 | David Walsh | Chief sports writer of the British newspaper The Sunday Times |
| 2012 | Russ Feingold | Former senator, public speaker, educator. |
| 2011 | Nikki Giovanni | World-renowned poet, activist and educator |
| 2010 | Kerry Kennedy | International human rights advocate and author |
| 2009 | Heather Rae | Award-winning Cherokee film director and producer |
| 2008 | Calvin Trillin | Humorist, journalist and author |
| 2007 | Robin Wright | Acclaimed journalist |
| 2006 | Jon Meacham | Managing Editor of Newsweek |
| 2005 | Seymour Hersh | Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist |
| 2004 | Paul Krugman | Professor, Economist, Author and New York Times Columnist |
| 2003-cancelled | Wendy Wasserstein | Playwright |
| 2002 | Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. | Senior attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council |
| 2001-cancelled | Martha Nussbaum | Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Chicago |
| 2000 | Baruch Blumberg | Director, NASA's Astrobiology Institute |
| 1998 | Martin Marty | Director, Public Religion Project, University of Chicago School of Divinity |
| 1997 | Daniel Goldhagen | Author, “Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust” |
| 1997 | Arthur Caplan | Director, Center of Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania President, American Association of Bioethics |
| 1996 | Doris Kearns Goodwin | Pulitzer Prize winning historian |
| 1995 | Lester Brown | Founder, WorldWatch Institute |
| 1994 | Thomas Wicker | Former editorial columnist, The New York Times |
| 1993 | Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. | Pulitzer Prize winning historian |