Race, Public Opinion, and the Fight Over Reparations in the Age of Obama

Date: 

Wednesday, November 18, 2015, 4:10pm to 5:30pm

Location: 

Foyer, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, 124 Mount Auburn Street, Suite 200-North Cambridge, MA 02138

The Ash Center cordially invites you to the next session of its Race and American Politics Seminar Series. We will be joined by Michael C. Dawson, the John D. MacArthur Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and the College at the University of Chicago.  Professor Dawson will examine both liberal and conservative objections to slavery reparations, present recent public opinion data and analysis on support for reparations and slavery apologies, as well as discuss the issue of reparations within the broader racial divide in American public opinion. Walter Johnson, the Winthrop Professor of History at Harvard University will serve as respondent.  Moderating this discussion will be Leah Wright Rigueur, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.  

Cosponsored by:

Hutchins Center for African & African American Research

The Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy

About the Speaker:
Michael C. Dawson is the John D. MacArthur Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and the College at the University of Chicago.  Professor Dawson was co-principal investigator of the 1988 National Black Election Study and was principal investigator with Ronald Brown of the 1993-1994 National Black Politics Study.  He directed numerous additional public opinion studies between 2000 and 2010.  His research interests have included the development of quantitative models of African American political behavior, identity, and public opinion, the political effects of urban poverty, and African-American political ideology.   His work also includes delineating the differences in African American public opinion from those of other racial and ethnic groups.  More recently he has combined his quantitative work with work in political theory.  Specifically, Dawson has concentrated in recent years on theoretical and empirical studies of the effects of racial cleavages and inequalities on American democracy. His latest books include Not In Our Lifetimes: The Future of Black Politics (University of Chicago Press, 2011) and Blacks In and Out of the Left (Harvard University Press, 2013).  Dawson has also published numerous journal articles, book chapters and opinion pieces. 

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