The Thirty-fifth Annual Wiggins Lecture Caterina Jarboro, the 1898 Wilmington Riot, and the Challenges of the Archive Richard A. Yarborough Wednesday, July 19, 2023, at 7:00 PM ET Approximately 60 minutes. This hybrid program will be held in person at Antiquarian Hall and livestreamed to a virtual audience on YouTube. Advance registration is required for both. Doors open at
Into the Light with Life Writing: Nellie Y. McKay and the Literary Legacies of Black Feminism
April 12 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Nellie Y. McKay (1930–2006)
was a pivotal figure in contemporary American letters. The author of several books, McKay is best known for coediting the canon-making Norton Anthology of African American Literature with Henry Louis Gates Jr., a collection that helped secure a place for the scholarly study of Black writing that had been ignored by white academia.
However, there is more to McKay’s life and legacy than her literary scholarship. After her passing, new details about McKay’s life emerged, surprising everyone who knew her. Why did McKay choose to hide so many details of her past?