The WSU Humanities Center invites faculty, students, staff, and the community to a Brown Bag talk given by Joshua Wilburn (Associate Professor, Philosophy) on the topic of the "Nice White People and the Epistemology of Ignorance in Langston Hughes".

Abstract: Throughout his career Langston Hughes often distinguished "good" or "nice" White people from outspoken White racists and those who actively opposed integration and civil rights. However, he also explored in depth (and perhaps more than any Black American writer before him) the various ways that nice White people themselves often demonstrate racism or racial ignorance and act as obstacles to the racial justice they superficially support. This talk examines Hughes' characterization of key expressions of White Niceness in both his fiction and non-fiction work.

This event will be in-person (FAB 2339) and streamed. RSVP for the zoom link.