Author Clint Smith to join NIU lecture series Sept. 12

DeKALB – The Northern Illinois University Department of History will hold a “Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America” discussion by author Clint Smith as part of its annual Lincoln Lecture.

The free lecture will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 in the NIU Altgeld Auditorium.

The discussion is based on Smith’s book “How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America.” The discussion also will be moderated by Christina Abreu, the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies director.

The book won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and named one of the year’s best books by The Economist, The Washington Post, TIME, and The New York Times. Smith is the author of the poetry collections “Above Ground” and “Counting Descent.” He has had poems, scholarly writings, and essays published in The Paris Review, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, the Harvard Educational Review and Poetry Magazine. Smith is a staff writer for The Atlantic.

The W. Bruce Lincoln Endowed Lecture Series addresses topics of interest to the academic community and public and engages in key issues in the spirit of Professor Lincoln’s research, writing and teaching.

For information, email ahanley@niu.edu.