2020 Gandhi-King Lecture on International Relations and Peace Studies
Visions of Justice
International and Interreligious Roots of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement
Friday, Oct. 2, 2020
5 p.m. EST (Q&A to follow)
The event will be held as a Zoom webinar. Reservations are required, and a link will
be sent to registered participants 24 hours beforehand.
Register now.
Sarah Azaransky, associate professor of social ethics at Union Theological Seminary,
will deliver this year’s Gandhi-King Lecture. Her talk will be followed by a question
and answer period, moderated by Gregory Dunaway, dean of the Eberly College of
Arts and Sciences. Azaransky will highlight direct connections between Mohandas
Gandhi and the U.S. civil rights movement. Black American Christian intellectuals
took special interest in Gandhi, and fostered debates about his tactics and whether
nonviolence could stem racial terror in the United States. Integral to Black Americans’
engagement with Gandhi were critiques of his program, which they brought to Gandhi
himself when they met with him in India in the 1930s. In this talk, Azaransky will
underscore that despite particular and deep criticisms of Gandhi’s program, Black
Americans were able to learn from a person whose moral vision was limited.
About the Speaker
Sarah Azaransky teaches about social ethics at Union Theological Seminary
in New York City. She is author of “This Worldwide Struggle: Religion and
the International Roots of the Civil Rights Movement” (Oxford University Press,
June 2017) and “The Dream Is Freedom: Pauli Murray and American Democratic Faith”
(Oxford University Press, 2011), and editor of “Religion and Politics in America’s
Borderlands” (Lexington, 2013). Azaransky also co-authored the successful
application for Pauli Murray’s childhood home in Durham, North Carolina, to become
a National Historical Landmark. She is currently working on a book about mid-century
campaigns to desegregate New York City public schools as well as on a spiritual
biography of Bayard Rustin.
About the Gandhi-King Lecture Series on International Relations and Peace Studies
This lecture series at WVU’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, sponsored by the Indian community of Morgantown, celebrates the work and wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The annual lecture for the WVU and Morgantown communities discusses the ongoing significance of a peaceful, nonviolent approach to dealing with national and international problems, issues and conflicts. Whenever possible, the lecture will make connections between contemporary India and the United States. The donors' goal is for the WVU community to learn about and consider the continuing legacy of Gandhi and King. The Gandhi King Lecture on International Relations and Peace Studies is sponsored by the Indian community of Morgantown.