Princeton University’s Ruha Benjamin to Deliver 35th Annual Benjamin E. Mays Lecture

ATLANTA—Ruha Benjamin, the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, will deliver the 35^th annual Benjamin E. Mays Lecture on Feb. 8, 2024, at 5 p.m. in a virtual format.

Benjamin is the founding director of the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab and author of the award-winning book “Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code,” among many other publications. Her work investigates the social dimensions of science, medicine and technology with a focus on the relationship between innovation and inequity, health and justice, knowledge and power. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Marguerite Casey Foundation Freedom Scholar Award and the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton. Her most recent book, “Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want,” winner of the 2023 Stowe Prize, was born out of the twin plagues of COVID-19 and police violence, and it offers a practical and principled approach to transforming communities and helping build a more just and joyful world. Ruha’s forthcoming book, “Imagination: A Manifesto,” will be released in February 2024.

“This year’s Mays Lecture offers us the opportunity to experience the nobility of Ruha Benjamin's distinctive vision, which is inspiring, liberating and full of hope in our ability to shape a future for humanity's collective well-being,” said Joyce King, the Benjamin E. Mays Endowed Chair of Teaching, Learning and Leadership.

Benjamin E. Mays was a minister, educator, sociologist, social activist and president of Morehouse College in Atlanta from 1940 to 1967. He also was president of the Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education and supervised the desegregation of Atlanta’s public schools. The annual Mays Lecture, hosted by Georgia State University’s Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence, encourages the discussion of issues facing urban educational leaders, honors the memory of Mays and promotes his philosophy of excellence in the education of those typically least well served by the larger society.

To RSVP to attend, visit https://bit.ly/MaysLecture2024RSVP.

For more information about the lecture, visit https://bit.ly/MaysLecture.