Black Lives

Kwame Anthony Appiah: Identity and Cosmopolitanism

Kwame Anthony Appiah
2015

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy and Law, New York University, for a discussion of his intellectual journey. Appiah reminisces about his early years in Ghana and Great Britain focusing on the influence of his parents. After outlining his formal education, he discusses the philosophical problems that have interested him. The discussion then turns to his analysis of identity and cosmopolitanism and the interface between them and concludes with a discussion of the importance of conversation in building a cooperative world....

Kenneth D. Kaunda: Reflections on Empire, Nationalism, and Globalization

Kenneth D. Kaunda
2006

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes His Excellency Kenneth D. Kaunda, the First President of Zambia (1964-1991). President Kaunda discusses the national and international challenges he confronted as a national leader. He also reflects on his current work with NGOs in the global fight to fight disease, poverty and inequality.

KEYWORDS: Zambia, Politics, Africa, Empire, Presidents

Judge Shelton Henderson: Lessons of the Civil Rights Movement

Judge Shelton Henderson
1998

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Judge Thelton Henderson for a discussion of the U.S. civil rights movement and its implications for international law.

KEYWORDS: Civil Rights, Judges

Professor Paul Butler: Intellectual Journey from Reform to Activism

Professor Paul Butler
2019

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Professor Paul Butler, Albert Brick Professor Law at Georgetown, for a discussion of the law and blacks. Topics covered include formative experiences including influence of his parents, his upbringing in Chicago, his education, and his work as a prosecutor. Emphasis is on how and why his ideas about reform and activism evolved as he came to understand black confrontation with the law.

Key Words: Law, Law and Inequality, Activism and the Law, Black Lives

Nell Irvin Painter: Reflections of an Historian

Nell Irvin Painter
2013

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes historian and artist Nell Irvin Painter for a discussion of her intellectual odyssey. Professor Painter discusses the influence of her parents, her work as a historian and the importance of art as a way to complement the traditional historical narrative.

Key Words: Historians, Art, Black Lives, Women Trailblazers

Gibor Basri: Reaching for the Stars

Gibor Basri
2009

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Gibor Basri, Professor of Astronomy at UC Berkeley, for a discussion of his work in astrophysics. Topics covered include: research methodology, discovery of Brown Dwarfs (stellar objects that are not planets nor stars),and the research agenda of NASA Kepler Mission. Professor Basri also discusses science education and his work (as Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion) in motivating and recruiting minority students for a future in science.

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Annette Gordon-Reed: Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and the Burden of Slavery

Annette Gordon-Reed
2016

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Harvard Professor Annette Gordon-Reed for a discussion of her work as a lawyer/historian focusing on the contradictions of the life of Thomas Jefferson. Recalling her intellectual odyssey. Professor Gordon-Reed elucidates her contribution to Jeffersonian scholarship including her most recent book “The Most Blessed of Patriarchs”: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of Imagination(written with Peter S. Onuf). Topics covered in the conversation include how her training as a lawyer empowered her to overturn the conventional...

Alice Karekezi: Justice in Rwanda and the Rights of Women

Alice Karekezi
1999

In this edition, lawyer and human rights activist Alice Karekezi joins UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler to reflect on the plight of women in Rwanda and the importance of making their struggle part of the human rights agenda.

KEYWORDS: Rwanda, Genocide, Africa.

Wole Soyinka: Writing and Political Activism

Wole Soyinka
1998

On this edition of Conversations with History, UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler talks with Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. In an extraordinarily prolific and rich body of work including plays, novels, poems, and essays, Professor Soyinka draws on both Yoruba and western culture to exquisitely weave a subtle understanding of the tragedy and comedy of the human condition. In this discussion, Soyinka talks about the craft of writing, his work in theatre arts, human rights, and his political activism.

KEYWORDS: Nobel Laureates, Nigeria, Political Activism, Political Prisoners,...