Ijeoma Oluo: Solidarity and Accountability

Ijeoma Oluo—self-described “Internet Yeller” and the author of So You Want to Talk About Race—will deliver a Presidential Colloquium titled “The Only Way Out Is Through: Solidarity and Accountability,” Tuesday, November 1 at 5 p.m. in Weinstein Auditorium.

This event is open to the public at no charge.

Smith students, faculty and staff are invited to attend optional group discussions that will follow the talk; pizza will be provided. Registration for the group discussions is available online.

About the talk

In tumultuous times, many ask, “How can we come together for the greater good?” Countering the growing impulse to “move forward” by “setting aside differences,” Oluo’s talk will discuss the need instead for solidarity through accountability and the benefits of delving into our division, into our grievances and hurts, to look at where we’ve gone wrong so we can decide how to do better. 

About Ijeoma Oluo

Ijeoma Oluo is a Seattle-based writer, speaker and “Internet Yeller.” Her work on social issues such as race and gender has been published in The Guardian, The Stranger, Washington Post, ELLE, NBC News and more. She has been the editor at large at The Establishment, a woman-funded multimedia site, since 2015. Her New York Times-bestselling first book, So You Want to Talk About Race, was released January 2018 with Seal Press.

Oluo was named to Seattle Magazine’s list of most influential people. She also was named one of the “50 Most Influential Women” in Seattle by Seattle Met and was cited as one of The Root’s “100 Most Influential Americans” in 2017 and 2018. She received the American Humanist Association’s 2018 Feminist Humanist Award 2018, the 2017 Media Justice Award from the Gender Justice League and the 2018 Aubrey Davis Visionary Leadership Award from the Equal Opportunity Institute.

About Smith College’s Presidential Colloquium series

Smith’s Presidential Colloquium series regularly features influential thought leaders in a wide range of fields—from poets and writers to economists and policy experts—to share their expertise, offer insights, and inspire discourse on key social, political and global topics that call for attention. Lectures are free and open to the public.