Miami University

O'Hara lecture: "Race and Politics in Obama's America"

10/28/2011

Rogers Smith, the Christopher Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania and chair of the Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship and Constitutionalism, will present "Still a House Divided: Race and Politics in Obama's America" at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, in 101 Bachelor Hall. His talk is the annual O'Hara lecture sponsored by the department of political science.

Smith’s research focuses on constitutional law, American political thought and modern legal and political theory, with special interests in questions of citizenship, race, ethnicity and gender.
He is author of many books, including Civic Ideals, which was a finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in history, among other awards. Smith is co-author with Desmond King of Still a House Divided: Race and Politics in Obama's America, published in September.

His lecture will examine the enduring divisions of American racial politics and how these conflicts have been shaped by distinct political alliances and their competing race policies.