A 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has witnessed the best and worst aspects of society will deliver the Black History Month keynote address.
Eugene Robinson, who earned the industry's most prestigious award for his Washington Post commentary on the 2008 presidential race, will deliver the address, "We're Someplace We've Never Been: Race, Diversity and the New America," to the University community at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 3, in Alumni Hall.
Robinson, who was raised on what was called the "colored" side of the tracks in the segregated South and has ascended to reporting excellence, has been shattering racial barriers throughout his impressive career.
During his 25-years at the acclaimed daily newspaper, Robinson has served as a city hall reporter, city editor, foreign correspondent in Buenos Aires and London, foreign editor and assistant managing editor for the Post's Style section. He also writes a twice-weekly column for the Post about American society.
Robinson still remembers the 1968 "Orangeburg Massacre," during which police fired on unarmed students protesting a segregated bowling alley. Three young men were killed during the incident, which took place within yards of his South Carolina home.
He was educated at Orangeburg High School, where he was one of only a handful of black students on the previously all-white campus. At the University of Michigan, he became the first black student to be named co-editor-in-chief of the prestigious student newspaper, The Michigan Daily.
As news broke over the past quarter century, Robinson was involved in reporting it.
Robinson has written books about race in Brazil and music in Cuba. He has covered a heavyweight championship fight, witnessed riots in Philadelphia and a murder trial deep within the Amazon. He has sat with presidents, dictators and even the Queen of England.
Robinson lives in Arlington, Va., with his wife, Avis, and their two sons.
For more information, call 203-582-8652.