We Demand: Student Activism and the Struggle for Racial Justice at UVA

For the past decade, Claudrena Harold has combined historical research with creative practice to illuminate the beauty, richness, and complexity of Black life and student protest at the University of Virginia.

In this lecture, Harold will examine how student activists have transformed the intellectual, political, and social life of UVA and the broader Charlottesville community through their sustained efforts to define, implement, and defend their visions of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her talk will explore several key questions, including: How, and to what extent, has student activism changed since the late 1960s and early 1970s? How have these transformations been shaped by broader political developments in higher education and U.S. race relations? What does the complex political, intellectual, and cultural life at UVA reveal about how race is lived and experiences in 21st-century America? How have current student activists responded to the challenges of a post-DEI landscape and volatile period of leadership transition?