Speaking
Author Events
From Virginia Cotton Patches to New York Potato Fields: Untold Stories of the Rural to Rural African American Migration
February 27, 2025
Cornell University
Room and time TBA
Funky Barns, Austere Libraries, Cool Cemeteries: Places of Affection in the Life of an African American Folklorist
2024 Fife Lecture, Utah State University
January 25, 2024
Bradford Literature Festival June 25, 2023 1-2 pm
I Have a Dream: 60 Years On
‘I have a dream.’ This four word message of hope delivered on the steps of Washington DC’s Lincoln Memorial by Martin Luther King Jr, is recognised around the world.
60 years on from MLK’s famous speech that helped transform the civil rights campaigner into a 20th century icon, we examine his life and legacy and ask whether the dream he hoped to one day see has been distorted.
Our panel of very special guest speakers, including Attorney General Keith Ellison, author Patricia Turner and civil rights scholar Dr. Peter Ling, will reflect on the man whose radical actions and words changed the tide of racial discrimination in the US, and started a chain reaction around the world. Join them as they discuss the impact of this powerful speech, re-explore King’s legacy following the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and ask the question ‘Where are we today – and is it where MLK intended?’
2023 LA Times Festival of Books
Panel: Current Issues: Conspiracy Inc.
Sunday, April 23 | 12:00 - 1:00 PM
Racism, bigotry, the deep state, and fake news, our country runs on conspiracy theories. Whether it’s the Republican party leveraging fear and paranoia to win elections or conspiracy theorists allowed to drive the narrative when officials fail to enforce accountability, racist rumors about Barack Obama or an intelligence official trapped in a system where nothing is private, these books reveal the pervasive dangers of conspiracy. Tickets are on sale HERE.
Moderator/Interviewer: James Rainey
Panelists: Sarah Kendzior, Kerry Howley, David Corn, Patricia A. Turner
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee at Waukesha
Jazzy Quilters, Contemptible Collectibles, and a First Family With Soul: Documenting Folklore and Popular Culture by and about African Americans
March 30 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
“The Obama Presidency: Book talk with Patricia Turner and Gabriel Debenedetti,” USC Center For the Political Future panel moderated by Bob Shrum. October 26, 2022.
Book Signing and Reading, The Avid Reader, Davis, CA. October 21, 2022.
Book Signing, Reading, and Reception at the Eastville Community House, Sag Harbor, NY. September 10, 2022
Select invited lectures
“Resilience and Fragility at UCLA,” Invited keynote at Fragility and Resilience: Facets, Features, and (Trans)Formations in Higher Education, University of the Free State, Blomfontein, South Africa January 29, 2020.
“Katrina to Ebola: Rumor and Race in the Twenty-First Century.” Richard M. Dorson Memorial Lecture, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, March 27, 2015.
“Fried Chicken, Quilts and Hurricanes: Reflections on Fieldwork in Louisiana.” The Francis Lee Utley Memorial Lecture of the AFS Fellows, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 26, 2012.
“Crafting Change: African American Folk Artists and the Civil Rights Movement.” Botkin Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., June 26, 2012.
“The Rise and Fall of Eliza Harris: From Novel to Tom Shows to Quilts.” Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture, Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Hartford, Connecticut, June 2, 2007.
“Say What! The Role and Impact of Urban Legends.” JFK School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 21, 2000.
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About the image: While serving as senior dean of the College at UCLA, Dean Patricia A. Turner hosted Congressman John Lewis at the 2017 Winston C. Doby Distinguished Lecture where the civil rights icon received the UCLA University Medal. Photo: Marc Roseboro/UCLA.