2023 Dr. William G. Anderson Lecture Series, Slavery to Freedom: An American Odyssey

ATTENTION:

Staff, Students, & Faculty

The College of Osteopathic Medicine, in partnership with the Graduate School, is sponsoring the 23rd annual Dr. William G. Anderson Lecture Series: Slavery to Freedom. This series gives members of the mid-Michigan community opportunities to interact with multicultural leaders from education, business, industry, entertainment, and government. For 23 years, this series has featured living icons of the American Civil Rights Movement. All Activities are free of charge.

This year's series features Marley Dias on February 2, 2023Dr. Angela Davis on February 9, 2023; and Dr. Freeman Hrabowski on February 23, 2023. 

  • Marley Dias began working as an activist at the age of 11 when she created #1000BlackGirlBooks, collecting over 13,000 children’s books featuring Black girls as the lead character. She is also the author of Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You! She was recognized by TIME in 2018 as one of the 24 most influential teens and was named the youngest member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Today, Dias is a student at Harvard University and is the executive producer and host of Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices on Netflix.
  • Dr. Angela Davis, a university educator who is well-known for her movements for social justice through her activism and scholarship, emphasizing the “importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial and gender justice.” The author of 11 books, including Abolition.Feminism.Now, which she co-authored with Gina Dent, Erica Meiners and Beth Richie, Dr. Davis is known for helping to popularize the notion of a “prison industrial complex,” urging others to think about a world without prison systems.
  • Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski since 1992 has served as president of UMBC – recognized as a model for inclusive excellence and is the nation’s leading producer of Black bachelor’s degree recipients who go on to earn M.D.-Ph.Ds., and Ph.Ds. in the natural sciences and engineering. He co-founded the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. His awards are many, including the American Council on Education’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, and this year, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) pledged $1.5 billion to support early career scientists and increase diversity in STEM through the Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program.

To learn more, visit the page for each event: