Join us for an evening with bestselling author Jonathan Eig, whose recent book King: A Life was hailed as the definitive biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by The New York Times, and Dr. Peniel Joseph, Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and author of The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Ashley Farmer, Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies & History at UT Austin, moderated the conversation.

About the Speakers

Jonathan Eig is the bestselling author of six books, including his most recent, King: A Life, which was nominated for the National Book Award and named as one of The Washington Post’s top ten books of the year and Amazon’s best bio of 2023. His previous book, Ali: A Life, won a 2018 PEN America Literary Award. Eig’s works have been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Peniel Joseph holds a joint professorship appointment at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the History Department in the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. He is also the founding director of the LBJ School's Center for the Study of Race and Democracy (CSRD). His career focus has been on "Black Power Studies," which encompasses interdisciplinary fields such as Africana studies, law and society, women's and ethnic studies, and political science. In addition to being a frequent commentator on issues of race, democracy and civil rights, Dr. Joseph's books include The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely: A Life.

Ashley Farmer is a historian of Black women's history, intellectual history, and radical politics. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Departments of History and African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her book, Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era is the first comprehensive study of black women's intellectual production and activism in the Black Power era. She is also the co-editor of New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition, an anthology that examines central themes within the black intellectual tradition. Farmer's scholarship has appeared in numerous venues including The Black Scholar and The Journal of African American History. Her research has also been featured in several popular outlets including Vibe, and Harper’s Bazaar, The Washington Post. She is also a Distinguished Lecturer with the Organization of American Historians.