Loretta Ross to present 'Calling in the Calling Out Culture'

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging will welcome a national activist and scholar as part of programming related to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Loretta Ross, professor at Smith College, will present “Calling in the Calling Out Culture” for an online lecture at 11 a.m. Jan. 20.

Ross, associate professor of the study of women & gender, teaches courses on white supremacy, human rights and "calling out culture." She advocates for respectful debate and productive conversations with others who hold differing opinions. She has been featured in The New York Times and Fast Company.

Ross was the national coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective (2005-2012) and co-created the theory of Reproductive Justice. She was national co-director of the April 25, 2004, March for Women’s Lives in Washington, D.C., the largest protest march in U.S. history at that time. She founded the National Center for Human Rights Education (NCHRE) in Atlanta, launched the Women of Color Program for the National Organization for Women (NOW) and was the national program director of the National Black Women’s Health Project. One of the first African American women to direct a rape crisis center, Ross was the third executive director of the D.C. Rape Crisis Center.

Participants may register in advance for this Zoom lecture.