For immediate release: December 6, 2002

Lauren Robinson-Brown (609) 258-3601, lauren@princeton.edu
Editors: A photograph of Eddie Glaude is available at: http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pictures/g-k/glaude/
 

Glaude to keynote King observance, Jan. 20

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Eddie Glaude Jr., a new faculty member at Princeton known for his work in African-American religious studies, will be the keynote speaker at the University's annual tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, Jan. 20.

Glaude, an associate professor of religion and a member of the committee that oversees the Program in African-American Studies, will speak on race relations and King's legacy at the event, which will begin with a concert at 1 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium of Alexander Hall. The program will start at 1:30 p.m.

Glaude joined the faculty this year after teaching at Bowdoin College. A graduate of Morehouse College, he earned a master's degree in African-American studies from Temple University and master's and doctoral degrees in religion from Princeton. He recently won the first William Sanders Scarborough Prize awarded by the Modern Language Association of America.

The prize is presented for an outstanding scholarly study of black American literature or culture. Glaude won for his book, "Exodus! Religion, Race and Nation in Early 19th-Century Black America" (University of Chicago Press, 2000). The citation for the award calls the book "a rigorously contextualized and theoretically astute examination of African-American uses of the biblical story of Exodus to forge an ethical discourse of national identity in response to the racial retrenchments of the early 19th century."

Glaude also edited "Is It Nation Time? Contemporary Essays on Black Power and Black Nationalism" (University of Chicago Press, 2002) and is the co-editor with Cornel West, the Class of 1943 University Professor of Religion at Princeton, of the forthcoming volume, "African-American Religious Studies: An Anthology."

The King Day tribute will begin with a half-hour concert by the CASYM (Caribbean-American Sports and Cultural Youth Movement) Steel Orchestra, a group of 50 students, ages 6 to 18, from New York that has performed at two previous King Day programs.

The event also will include the presentation of awards to essay and poster contest winners from area schools. Students in grades 7 through 12 have been invited to create a script for a 30-second radio spot that could be broadcast on King Day to remind listeners of the purpose and meaning of the day. Fourth- through sixth-graders have been invited to create billboards that could be installed along a major road for King Day.

Entries for both contests are due in the Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs by Monday, Dec. 16. Last year, 465 students from 18 schools submitted essays, and 386 students from 17 schools submitted posters.

For more information about the event or the contests, call (609) 258-6429 or visit http://www.princeton.edu/pr/mlk.