淫妻社

Writer James Baldwin speaks to a crowd in lower Manhattan on Sept. 22, 1963, at a 鈥淣ational Day of Mourning for the Children of Birmingham,鈥� one week after the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on Sept. 15. Acclaimed Baldwin scholar Dr. Ed Pavli膰 has written extensively about Baldwin, including the transformative effect the terrorist attack had on his civil rights activism. Pavli膰 will discuss Baldwin鈥檚 trips to the Deep South during the 1950s and 1960s on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, at 淫妻社 (UAH).

Morris Warman

American writer James Baldwin鈥檚 civil rights trajectory changed profoundly in the wake of the bombing of Birmingham鈥檚 Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on Sept. 15, 1963. Four girls died in the terrorist attack; two teenage boys were shot and killed in the city in separate racist attacks later that day.

wrote about Baldwin鈥檚 transformation in 鈥淛ames Baldwin鈥檚 Day of Mourning: A tragedy in Birmingham and the making of a radical鈥� (Boston Review, Dec. 15, 2023). Pavli膰 will discuss Baldwin鈥檚 works and activism in the context of his trips to the Deep South in the 1950s and 1960s at 淫妻社 (UAH) on Thursday, Feb. 26, at 6 p.m. in Morton Hall Room 145.

The event, 鈥� honors February as Black History Month on the 淫妻社 campus and is the final program in the UAH Humanities Center鈥檚 Humanities Week. The lecture is open to the public, and free tickets to reserve a spot are available on the Humanities Week 2026 page on the UAH website. UAH is a part of The University of Alabama System.

Dr. Ed Pavli膰 will present 鈥淛ames Baldwin: A Radical Pursuit鈥� on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, at 淫妻社 (UAH).

Sun膷ana Pavli膰

鈥淚 think there are important things to learn from James Baldwin鈥檚 work like 鈥楾he Fire Next Time鈥� or 鈥業f Beale Street Could Talk鈥� from which we gain a better understanding of race in this country, including the many nuances of what daily and generational oppression have meant to many Americans,鈥� said Dr. Joseph Taylor, Humanities Center director and associate professor, UAH Department of English.

Pavli膰, the Distinguished Research Professor of English, African American Studies, and Creative Writing at the University of Georgia, is, in Taylor鈥檚 opinion, one of the world鈥檚 foremost experts on Baldwin.

鈥淭here was a great podcast, , hosted by Cree Myles, to mark Baldwin鈥檚 100th birth year in 2024,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淭he podcast features different scholars, but every episode ends with Ed Pavli膰, and there鈥檚 a whole episode about his own coming into Baldwin.鈥�

Taylor is excited that a scholar of Pavli膰鈥檚 stature is coming to UAH.

鈥淗e鈥檚 an encyclopedia of Baldwin. He has worked with the Baldwin estate and Baldwin鈥檚 sister Gloria Baldwin Karefa-Smart and was one of very few people to have access to unarchived Baldwin letters and other material. He鈥檚 had a great relationship with the family. So, he has a kind of knowledge that most of us don鈥檛 have because he鈥檚 seen things that a lot of us haven鈥檛 seen. He has such a grasp of Baldwin where he can move between texts and show you profound correlations.鈥�

Taylor also noted that Pavli膰 consulted on Barry Jenkins鈥� 2018 film 鈥淚f Beale Street Could Talk,鈥� an adaptation of Baldwin鈥檚 novel.

Pavli膰, Taylor added, is 鈥渁 dynamic, creative writer with an impressive array of books in his own right.鈥�

Pavli膰鈥檚 work includes more than a dozen books and articles in more than 60 magazines. His website biography describes him as 鈥渁n American writer whose work travels across 鈥� often blurring 鈥� genres: poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and scholarship. Centered in African American and diasporic life and culture, most of his work explores racial dynamics in the experiences of persons 鈥� fictive, actual, historical and contemporary 鈥� whose placement and perspectives aren鈥檛 neatly classifiable in contemporary vocabularies, theirs or ours.鈥�

He is the recipient of The American Poetry Review / Honickman First Book Award (2001), The National Poetry Series Open Competition (2012, 2014), The Author of the Year Award from the Georgia Writers鈥� Association (2009, 2023), and the Darwin Turner Memorial Award from African American Review (1997), among others. He and his family live in Athens, Ga.