'Beyond Obama' panel to discuss black political leadership in America

A panel discussion titled "Beyond Obama: Rethinking Black Political Leadership in America" is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 29, at 58 Prospect Ave., Room 105, on the Princeton University campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The discussion will look at the state of black politics following the election of President Barack Obama, which has furthered the discourse concerning a generational shift among African American elected officials. The event is sponsored by Princeton's Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding.

Moderated by Andra Gillespie, a visiting fellow at Princeton's Center for African American Studies and an assistant professor of politics at Emory University, the forum will seek to answer many of the questions raised by the ascent of African American political leaders beginning in the mid-20th century.

Gillespie is the editor of a new book titled "Whose Black Politics? Cases in Postracial Black Leadership," which addresses questions such as: How have black political leaders' differences in material resources, constituencies and historical perspectives shaped political strategy and the articulation of black political agendas? Does the rise of this cohort usher in greater intraracial political cohesion or contestation?

Eddie Glaude, Princeton's William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African American Studies and chair of the Center for African American Studies, will take part in the panel, as will three of the book's contributors: Tyson King-Meadows, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Charlton McIlwain, an associate professor of communications at New York University; and Katrina Gamble, an assistant professor of political science at Brown University.

A book signing will follow the talk.

For immediate release: April 22, 2010 Media contact: Christie Agawu, (609) 258-5494, agawu@princeton.edu

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