Eddie Glaude Public Lecture

Please join us when we host a public talk by Eddie Glaude Jr. on his forthcoming book America, U.S.A: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries (May 2026, Penguin Random House)

In this book, celebrated public intellectual Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. presents a groundbreaking analysis of the vicious cycles of American history and the country’s enduring refusal to face its true nature—especially at the moments when national anniversaries steer us back toward the mythology meant to disguise the truth.

One of the nation’s most prominent scholars, Dr. Eddie S. Glaude Jr., is a passionate educator, author, political commentator, and public intellectual who examines the complex dynamics of the American experience. Glaude is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies, a program he first became involved with shaping as a doctoral candidate in Religion at Princeton. He served as the inaugural chair of the department for more than fourteen years, and is also on the Morehouse College Board of Trustees. He frequently appears in the media, as a columnist for TIME Magazine and as an MSNBC contributor on programs like “Morning Joe” and “Deadline White House” with Nicolle Wallace. He also regularly appears on “Meet the Press” on Sundays. Combining a scholar’s knowledge of history, a political commentator’s take on the latest events, and an activist’s passion for social justice, Glaude challenges all of us to examine our collective American conscience

Glaude’s writings, including “Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul,” “In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America,” and the New York Times bestseller “Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own,” take an exhaustive look at Black communities, the difficulties of race in the United States, and the challenges we face as a democracy. His most recent book, “We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For,” is a politically astute, lyrical meditation on how ordinary people can shake off their reliance on a small group of professional politicians and assume responsibility for what it takes to achieve a more just and perfect democracy.

A highly accomplished and respected scholar of religion, Glaude is a former president of the American Academy of Religion. His books on religion and philosophy include “An Uncommon Faith: A Pragmatic Approach to the Study of African American Religion,” “African American Religion: A Very Short Introduction,” and “Exodus! Religion, Race and Nation in Early 19th Century Black America,” which was awarded the Modern Language Association’s William Sanders Scarborough Book Prize.