Ida B. Wells-Barnett Distinguished Lecture Series
About the 2013-2014 Lecturers
Dr. Evelynn Hammonds, C'76, Ponders Sexuality and Politics of Black Women's Bodies
Author and physicist Evelynn Hammonds, Ph.D., C'76, served as the opening speaker for the 2013-2014 Spelman College Ida B. Wells-Barnett Distinguished Lecture Series on Monday, Sept. 16, at 6 p.m. in the NASA auditorium at Spelman.
Dr. Hammonds is the Barbara Gutmann Rosenkratz Professor of History of Science and professor of African and African-American Studies at Harvard University. This year's multidisciplinary theme, Black (W)holes and Geometry: The Politics of Black Women's Bodies, is inspired by Dr. Hammonds' 1994 article, Black (W)holes and the Geometry of Black Female Sexuality, and the work of Dorothy Roberts, J.D., professor of law, sociology and civil rights.
The theme serves as the intellectual umbrella under which public lectures, discussion groups and other events will be focused throughout the year.
Other featured speakers include Deborah Willis, Ph.D., university professor and chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University; Kimberlé Crenshaw, J.D., distinguished professor of law; and Dorothy Roberts, J.D., professor of law, sociology and civil rights, Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Hammonds also served as Harvard University’s first senior vice provost for Faculty Development and Diversity beginning in July 2005. She joined the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 2002 after teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was the founding director of the Center for the Study of Diversity in Science, Technology and Medicine. Her scholarly interests include the history of scientific, medical, and sociopolitical concepts of race, the history of disease and public health, gender in science and medicine, and African-American history.
She is the author of “Childhood's Deadly Scourge: The Campaign to Control Diphtheria in New York City, 1880-1930” and many scholarly articles. She received her bachelor's degree in physics from Spelman College, a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in physics from MIT, and a Ph.D. in the history of science from Harvard. A member of numerous boards, Dr. Hammonds was named a fellow of the Association of Women in Science. She serves on the Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering, the congressionally mandated advising committee to the National Science Foundation.