Crystal M. Fleming Will Offer Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture

Crystal M. Fleming, Ph. D., author of “How to be Less Stupid About Race,” will present Smith College’s inaugural Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 13.

This virtual event is open to all at no charge, and will be presented on Zoom. Advance registration is now available online.

About Crystal M. Fleming

Crystal Marie Fleming is professor of sociology and Africana studies and associate faculty in the department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. She is an author, public intellectual and expert on global racism and white supremacy.

Crystal Marie Fleming holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in sociology from Harvard University and graduated with honors in sociology and French from Wellesley College. Her scholarship appears in journals such as The Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Poetics, and Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race and Mindfulness.

She has conducted research on racism and anti-racism in multiple national contexts and collaborated on empirical projects in the United States, France, Brazil and Israel. Her first book, “Resurrecting Slavery: Racial Legacies and White Supremacy in France” (Temple University Press, 2017), uses critical race theory to significantly advance scholarship on racism in France and Europe. Based on her award-winning dissertation, the book marshals ethnographic data, archival research and in-depth interviews with French activists and descendants of slaves to examine how commemorations of enslavement and abolition both challenge and reproduce the racial order.

Her latest book, “How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy and the Racial Divide” (Beacon Press), is a critically acclaimed primer on systemic racism that combines memoir, critical race theory, social commentary and satire to debunk common misconceptions about race.

More information is available online.

About Smith’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture

Established with an endowed fund created by members of Smith’s class of 1987, this annual lecture promotes awareness and appreciation of racial and ethnic diversity.