Social activist, political commentator Marc Lamont Hill to speak at North Central College

Professor, author and cultural critic Marc Lamont Hill will give a talk on Feb. 28 at North Central College. Hill’s appearance was organized by the College’s Black Student Association in observation of Black History Month.

Hill will speak at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, in Smith Hall, located on the second floor of North Central College’s Old Main, 30 N. Brainard St., Naperville. This event is free and open to the public.

During his talk titled “Building Community in an Hour of Chaos: Progress in the Age of Obama,” Hill will offer an analysis of the current social and political environment and will identify key issues, challenges, controversies and trends that have emerged during the "Obama era.” He will also discuss solutions and possibilities to mitigate ongoing problems in national, local and university communities.

Hill’s work, which covers topics such as culture, politics and education, has appeared in numerous journals, magazines, books and anthologies. He has lectured widely and provides commentary for media outlets such as NPR and The New York Times. He also provides regular commentary for CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel, where he was a political contributor and regular guest on “The O’Reilly Factor.” An award-winning writer, Hill is a columnist and editor-at-large for the Philadelphia Daily News. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and was trained as an anthropologist of education.

Since his days as a youth in Philadelphia, Hill has been a social justice activist and organizer. He is a founding board member of My5th, a nonprofit organization devoted to educating youth about their legal rights and responsibilities. He also is a board member and organizer of the Philadelphia Student Union. Hill works closely with the ACLU Drug Reform Project, focusing on drug informant policy.

In addition to his political work, he continues to work directly with African-American and Latino youth. In 2001, he started a literacy project that uses hip-hop culture to increase school engagement and reading skills among high school students. He also continues to organize and teach adult literacy courses for high school dropouts in Philadelphia and Camden, N.J.

Since 2009, Hill has been on the faculty of Columbia University as associate professor of English education at Teachers College. He also holds an affiliated faculty appointment in African-American Studies at the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University.