SEPT 29 & 30: Guest Lecture & Faculty Workshop by Dr. Yohuru Williams - When Revolutions Sleep: King’s Call, Jesuit Vision, and the Courage to Act

Peace & Justice Studies and Black Studies

Present

Dr. Yohuru Williams

When Revolutions Sleep:

King’s Call, Jesuit Vision, and the Courage to Act

 In honor of the 40^th anniversary of the Black Studies Program, we welcome Dr. Yohuru Williams to campus for two days of events on September 29^thand 30^th. Dr. Williams, professor of history and founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas, will present a lecture and faculty/staff workshop examining our current moment through the lens of history, interdisciplinary scholarship, and Jesuit values.

When Revolutions Sleep: King’s Call, Jesuit Vision, and the Courage to Act

Why progress stalls — and how rooted communities can wake it again.

• Keynote Address: Monday, Sept. 29^th at 7 pm in the BCC Dogwood Room
• Faculty/Staff Workshop: Tuesday, Sept. 30^th from 12-2:00 pm in the Alumni House REGISTER HERE
• Student Workshop*: Tuesday, Sept. 30th 3-4:00 pm in BCC 200 REGISTER HERE
• Faculty - Please encourage your students to attend       

KEYNOTE: Monday, Sept. 29 ú  7 p.m.ú  Dogwood Room

In this timely lecture, Dr. Yohuru Williams re‑examines Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution through the lens of rootedness. Drawing on Fairfield’s Catholic, Jesuit mission, he extends King’s use of Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle to warn that revolutions are not always synonymous with progress. 

In doing so, Dr. Williams will also shine a light on the bold, pioneering, and community‑centered work of Fairfield University faculty in Black Studies, Peace & Justice Studies, and Women’s Studies — scholars and educators whose teaching and engagement embody Jesuit values in action. Their efforts, rooted deeply in both scholarship and service, stand as living examples of how cura personalis, magis, and a commitment to justice can help awaken and sustain the imagination needed to confront the challenges of our time. Dr. Williams argues these principles are far more than aspirational phrases. They are calls to shape a world fit for future generations, a world that can only emerge if we remain alert to the perils of technological disruption, incivility, racism, and dehumanization.

FACULTY/STAFF WORKSHOP: Tuesday, Sept. 30ú  12-2 p.m.ú  Alumni Houseú  REGISTER HERE

Drawing on Dr. King’s Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution, along with the pioneering scholarship of colleagues in Black Studies, Peace & Justice Studies, and Women’s Studies, Dr. Williams will explore what it means to remain fully awake in a turbulent age. Grounded in Jesuit values, this session invites us to consider how faculty and staff can become bold agents of peace and unity—confronting technological disruption, incivility, and injustice with imagination, courage, and purpose. Highlighting the community-centered teaching and scholarship of Fairfield University faculty and staff, Dr. Williams underscores how cura personalis, magis, and a commitment to justice are not merely aspirational ideals, but living practices that can sustain our collective response to the challenges of our time.

Participants will engage questions such as:

• How do past struggles for justice (civil rights, social movements, the Holocaust) inform our present moment?
• How can we respond, as educators, to and in the current climate of fear and division?
• What practices can we adopt in classrooms and other academic spaces to move forward with purpose?