The N-word: History, Race and the College Classroom is topic on April 19

What is it about the n-word? Get a perspective from OAH Distinguished Lecturer Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, Ph.D., a professor, researcher—and also daughter of iconic comedian Richard Pryor on Monday, April 19, at 4:00 pm. Register online.

The n-word, a word prevalent in both racist and anti-racist documents, art, literature and politics, and is wreaking havoc across U.S. classrooms. With personal, pedagogical and historical perspective—framed in part by her experience as a biracial woman who is also the daughter of iconic comedian Richard Pryor—Dr. Pryor reflects on some of the reasons the n-word is so hard to talk about.

OAH Distinguished Lecturer Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, Ph.D, is an associate professor of history at Smith College. She is the author of an award winning article, The Etymology of [N-Word]: Resistance, Language and the Politics of Freedom in the Antebellum North and 2016’s monograph Colored Travelers: Mobility and the Fight for Citizenship before the Civil War. Her new project, which developed out of her research and teaching, is an historical and pedagogical study of the n-word framed, in part, by her experience as a biracial woman in the United States who is also the daughter of iconic comedian Richard Pryor.

This free event received partial funding support from the Friends of the Menlo Park Library.