Jemar Tisby
Lee University will welcome Jemar Tisby who will present “History as Activism: How Learning the Past Helps Us to Change the Present.” The lecture will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 18, in the Rose Lecture Hall, located in Lee’s Helen DeVos College of Education.
Mr. Tisby is president and co-founder of “The Witness: A Black Christian Collective,” where he writes about race, religion, and culture. He is the co-host of the “Pass the Mic” podcast, author of “The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism” (forthcoming Jan. ‘19 from Zondervan), and contributor to The Atlantic, Desiring God, The Gospel Coalition, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and multiple other outlets.
Mr. Tisby’s lecture will highlight the ways in which “we live in an age of protest and reform,” including topics such as kneeling during the national anthem, the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter, and the discussion about Confederate monuments. This session will relate America’s past to current justice issues in order to demonstrate how studying history is a form of activism that has the power to impact the present.
“College students often stand at the forefront of these movements by lending their energy, passion, and creativity to virtuous causes, but the problems of today arise from circumstances in the past,” said Mr. Tisby. “Today’s activists must pursue a deep knowledge of this nation's history, especially as it relates to race and justice, in order to change the present and the future for the better.”
Mr. Tisby received his master’s degree from Reformed Theological Seminary and his bachelor’s from Notre Dame, where he later worked in campus ministry. He is currently pursuing his doctorate at the University of Mississippi.
This lecture is free and open to the public.
Mr. Tisby can be followed on Twitter @jemartisby.
For more information, contact Dr. Mary McCampbell at 614-8353 or email mmccampbell@leeuniversity.edu.
(photo taken from the website: The Witness: A Black Christian Collective)