WILSON, N.C. — October 11, 2023 — Barton College is pleased to welcome Lisa Y. Henderson as the featured speaker for the upcoming BB&T Heritage Lecture in American History scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 19. Henderson’s lecture is titled “Standing in the Gap for the Ancestors: Sankofa and the Why of Black Wide-Awake.”
Scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in Howard Chapel on the Barton campus, this program is open to the public free of charge. The community is invited to attend.
Henderson received a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School and a Master of Arts degree in American History from Columbia University. Recently, she was appointed regional director of the National Labor Relations Board’s Region 10, headquartered in Atlanta, Ga.
A native of Wilson, Henderson has invested her expertise in the recovery and recognition of Wilson’s African American history. She created the Lane Street Project, which has led efforts to reclaim three African American cemeteries in Wilson and to bring to light the difficult history of these sacred spaces. Since 2015, her blog, Black Wide-Awake, makes publicly accessible numerous historical and genealogical documents, providing a vivid and important window into Wilson’s African American history. Her work exemplifies the importance of public history, sparking meaningful conversations between the past and present.
This lectureship is endowed by BB&T and sponsored by the School of Arts & Humanities at Barton College.
For additional information, contact Dr. Lydia Walker, assistant professor of history and religion at Barton College, at lmwalker@barton.edu or 252-399-6440.
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