INFORMATION FOR
Michael Eric Dyson, the best-selling author of Unequal: A Story of America, will examine how racial inequality permeates every facet of American society through the lens of those pushing for meaningful change during his appearance as part of the Distinguished Lecturer Series at William Paterson University in Wayne on Thursday, October 27, 2022.
The lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Shea Center for Performing Arts on campus. Tickets for the lecture are $25 for the general public, $5 for William Paterson faculty and staff, and free for William Paterson students. There is an additional $5 charge per ticket purchased at the box office on the evening of the lecture. A book signing will immediately follow the lecture. Unequal: A Story of America will be available on site for purchase.
Dyson is one of the country’s most well-known academics, as well as an author, ordained minister, and radio host. Currently the Centennial Professor at Vanderbilt University, where he also serves as the Distinguished University Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies, Dyson is the author of more than 20 books, including his latest, Unequal: A Story of America, which focuses on the struggles that shaped America, the insidiousness of racism, and how inequality persists today. His other books include the New York Times bestsellers The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America and Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America; and Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America, heralded as Amazon’s Bestselling Book for 2020.
He has served for more than 30 years as a media commentator and guest, appearing on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, The Takeaway, and Fresh Air with Terry Gross, as well as Meet the Press, Face the Nation, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and Real Time with Bill Maher. He has provided political analysis on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News.
The recipient of numerous honors, including an American Book Award and several NAACP Image Awards, Dyson became an ordained minister at age 19. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Carson-Newman College in Tennessee, and a doctorate in religion from Princeton University. He has taught at Brown University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia University, DePaul University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Georgetown University. William Paterson University’s Distinguished Lecturer Series is in its 41st season of bringing leading personalities from the worlds of politics, government, the arts, literature, sports, science, and business, along with original programs, to the University’s campus in Wayne. In the four-decade history of the series, more than 175 public figures, including British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, journalist and activist Gloria Steinem, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, actor and playwright Anna Deveare Smith, former New York Yankee and musician Bernie Williams, and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, have made presentations to 100,000 audience members.
To purchase tickets or for more information, please contact William Paterson University’s Shea Center Box Office at boxoffice@wpunj.edu, call 973.720.2371 or visit www.wp-presents.org.
