Anthony Monteiro, Ph.D., professor of African-American studies at Temple University and founding advisory board member of The Brothers’ Network, Inc. will give the third annual W.E.B. Du Bois Lectures.

The lectures are jointly sponsored by Temple’s Department of African American Studies and Black Men at Penn School of Social Work, Inc.

They take place on four consecutive Thursdays from Oct. 21, 2010, to Nov. 11, 2010, at 6:30 p.m. in Room 21, Gladfelter Hall, Temple University,  Berks Mall between 11th and 12th streets, Philadelphia, Pa.

W.E.B. Du Bois, one of the greatest and most influential thinkers of the 20th century, famously observed at the dawn of the last century that “the problem of the color line is the problem of the 20th century.”

It is now the 21st century, and the problem remains. The purpose of the annual Du Bois Lectures is to re-examine Du Bois’ thought with an eye on its relevance to contemporary issues of race and society in this century.

Dr. Monteiro will deliver four lectures on the theme of “W.E.B. Du Bois and the Problems of the 21st Century.” The lecture topics are:

  • Thursday, Oct. 21 – “African American Studies in the 21st Century: A Defense”
  • Thursday, Oct. 28 – “W.E.B. Du Bois and James Baldwin: The Language of Trauma in the Age of Obama”
  • Thursday, Nov. 4 – “From the Age of Europe to the Age of Humanity: The New Axial Age”
  • Thursday, Nov. 11 – “The Aesthetics of the Black Romantic Ideal”

These lectures are designed to challenge the academy and the wider community to reengage the thinking of W.E.B. Du Bois and to reconsider the relationships of politics and power to knowledge and the moral imperative of thinkers to act to change the world for the better.

The lectures are free and open to the public.