2026 Black History Month Keynote Lecture - Dr. Stefan M. Bradley

Keynote Lecture by Dr. Stefan M. Bradley, Charles Hamilton Houston 1915 Professor of Black Studies and History at Amherst College

Responding to the August 2014 police shooting death of their peer, Michael Brown, Jr., young Black people in Ferguson, Missouri showed the world what democracy looks like.  They organized and protested to expose racial capitalism and the blatant violations of their Constitutional rights.  By shutting down roadways and disrupting comfortable life in the St. Louis Metropolitan area, society's most marginalized members shook the status quo.  They threatened decision-makers that if they didn't get their freedom, they would shut down the system.  The efforts those young demonstrators made on the ground and in the political sphere provide a model for the modern moment.  As Americans face a rise in state violence against and abuse of the most vulnerable, they should learn from Ferguson, USA.