Dr. Byron Craig will deliver the talk “Can America be Redeemed? ‘Looking Up’ At America’s Past Through the National Memorial for Peace and Justice” at 2 p.m. Friday, November 5, via Zoom.
The event, sponsored by African American Studies, is free and open to the public. Those interested can request the Zoom link here.
In the talk, which is part of the African American Studies Fall Speaker Series, Craig will pose the question: How can the nation remember lynching in a way that can heal and redeem the American project of democracy?
Craig will explore how spaces like The National Memorial for Peace and Justice offer a space for restorative justice, and provide a site examining the critical history of lynching that forces America to reconcile its violent past.
An assistant professor in Illinois State University’s School of Communication, Craig is the 2021 recipient of the African American Studies Summer Research Grant and serves as an affiliate faculty for the African American Studies program. His current research includes the rhetorical analysis of anti-Blackness and anti-racism, trauma, and restorative justice through sites of memory.
Craig is also a fellow with the American Democracy Project as well as a contributor to the Extending Empathy Project housed at Illinois State’s Department of Psychology.
For additional information or questions, contact dlmast2@ilstu.edu.
