The Gloria Harper Dickinson lecture was established in 2009 to honor the scholarly legacy of a founding member and past chair of TCNJ’s African American Studies Department. In addition to her contributions to TCNJ, where she worked for more than 30 years, Dr. Dickinson was president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History from 2001-3, as well as the former secretary and international director of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
The lecture series draws attention to scholarly work and intellectual activity consistent with Dr. Dickinson’s interest in Africana women, African diaspora cultures, new media pedagogies, and in strengthening and modernizing African American civil society.
Past Gloria Harper Dickinson lecturers have included:
- 2017 Dr. Amalia Dache-Gerbino, Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri, “Localizing the Struggle: Postcolonial Geographies of Black Resistance from Ferguson to Mizzou”
- 2016 Betty Wambui, Assistant Professor of Africana and Latino Studies, SUNY College at Oneota, “Queering Africa(s), Querying Narratives”
- 2015 Ruha Benjamin, Assistant Professor of African American Studies, Princeton University, “‘Discriminatory Design’: From Park Bench To Lab Bench, Who’s Designing Our Future?”
- 2014 Natalie Byfield, Associate Professor of Sociology, St. Johns University, “Savage Portrayals: Race, Media and the Central Park Jogger Story”
- 2013 Cassandra Jackson, Professor of English, TCNJ, “The Death of Black Boyhood”
- 2011 Deborah Gray White, Professor of History, Rutgers “The Help;”
- 2010 Karen Jackson Weaver, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, Princeton University. “Race, Gender and Class in African American Religious History,”
- 2009 “Exploring Herstory: The Scholarly Legacy of Dr. Gloria Harper Dickinson,” That panel included two of Dr. Dickinson’s former students: Ann Marie Nicolosi, chair of TCNJ’s Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, and political scientist Angelique Douyon-Jessup. It also included historian William Jelani Cobb, whose remarks on Dr. Dickinson as a “race woman” and institution builder provide a comprehensive lens through which to understand her life and work. Those remarks are reproduced here, with the permission of the author.