A Conversation with Nell Painter on Feb 21

 WVSU Presents A Conversation with Nell Painter

          The public is invited to attend a Conversation with Nell Painter. One of the leading historians of the United States, Dr. Nell Irvin Painter will be the featured speaker at an evening convocation at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, February 21 in the Fannin S. Belcher Theater of the Davis Fine Arts Building on the West Virginia State University campus.

          Nell Irvin Painter is the Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita, Princeton University. In addition to her earned doctorate in history from Harvard University, she has received honorary doctorates from Wesleyan, Dartmouth, SUNY-New Paltz, and Yale.   In her "encore career" she also earned a BFA degree in painting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers-the State University of New Jersey in May 2009.  She is currently an MFA student in painting at the Rhode Island School of Design.

        "Why are white peole called Caucasian?" is the question that led to her book, The History of White People published in March 2010. This elementary question led to contradictory and complicated answers as Painter's inquiry was set in motion.  Her wide ranging response to the question results in a "whos who" of racial thinkers. 
          A prolific and award winning scholar, her other books include Creating Black Americans and Southern History Across the Color Line.