John Hope Franklin Distinguished Lecture

Professor Patricia G. Lespinasse, PhD will discuss the African American vernacular tradition (sermons, spirituals, blues and jazz) through a historical perspective and analyze its connection to soundscapes in African Diaspora Literature.

Speaker Bio

Professor Patricia G. Lespinasse, PhD is the newly appointed Associate Professor of African American Literature in the African, Black, and Caribbean Studies Program at Adelphi University. Dr. Lespinasse specializes in nineteenth and twentieth century African American and African Diaspora Literature. She received fellowships from Rutgers University and SUNY Binghamton University, where she taught on the full-time faculty of the department of Africana Studies. Professor Lespinasse is the author of The Drum Is a Wild Woman: Jazz and Gender in African Diaspora Literature and Associate Editor of The New Black Renaissance: The Souls Anthology of Critical African-American Studies. Her current book project is entitled: The Other Intersection: Race, Gender and Religion in Twentieth Century Woman’s Writing. Her articles have appeared in the College Language Association Journal and Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal. Professor Lespinasse is co-director of Proud Blood, a documentary film that explores the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) controversial ban on blood donations from Haitians, as part of a policy at the height of the HIV/AIDS global epidemic. Dr. Lespinasse earned her MA, MPhil, and PhD from Columbia University, and her B.A. from St. John’s University.

This event is sponsored by our 51-year-old African, Black and Caribbean Studies Program.