MLK Jr. Day Speaker: Benjamin Jealous

Please join us for a special talk from Former NAACP President Benjamin Jealous! This event is free for all CofC students, faculty, staff, and the general public. The event will be January 15, at 7:00 PM in the Sotille Theater.

Benjamin Jealous has been a leader of successful state and local movements to ban the death penalty, outlaw racial profiling, defend voting rights, secure marriage equality, and free multiple wrongfully incarcerated people. Under his leadership, the NAACP grew to be the largest civil rights organization online and on mobile, experienced its first multi-year membership growth in 20 years, and became the largest community-based nonpartisan voter registration operation in the country. A builder of robust coalitions, Jealous’ leadership at the NAACP included bringing environmentalist organizations into the fight to protect voting rights, and convincing well-known conservatives to join the NAACP in challenging mass incarceration.

Jealous has been named to the 40 under 40 lists of both Forbes and Time magazines. He is #1 on TheRoot.com’s 2013 list of black leaders under 45.