Randolph College will host a special service to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, Jan. 21, at 5 p.m. in the Houston Memorial Chapel. The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature a keynote by Valerie Johnson, the Mott Distinguished Professor of Women’s Studies, director of Africana women’s studies, and associate director of the honors program at Bennett College.
Johnson has conducted extensive research in gender, as it relates to bioethics, disability, and environmental justice, and has traveled to Costa Rica, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and the Seychelles Islands. She also received the Bennett College National Alumnae Association’s Faculty Service Award and the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network’s Steve Wing International Environmental Justice Award. Johnson serves as chair of the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission as well as the Scarritt-Bennett Center Board of Directors.
Johnson received her B.A. in sociology with an urban studies concentration from Spelman College and received her Ph.D. in medical anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Tags: black history celebration, events, martin luther king jr., speakers