How Science Fiction Helps Us Understand the Problems Confronting North Carolina

Valerie Johnson, Distinguished Professor of Women’s Studies at Bennett College, will speak on “How Science Fiction Helps Us Understand the Problems Confronting North Carolina.”  You may think this is a crazy idea, but Valerie Johnson has the credentials to make this work.  Dr. Valerie Johnson is the only black woman on the North Carolina Historical Commission, which oversees the removal or altering of historical monuments on State property. She is a professor of women’s studies and director of Africana Women’s Studies at Bennett College.  She is chair of the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission.

Bennett College had its beginning in 1873 in the un-plastered basement of the Warnersville Methodist Episcopal Church (now known as St. Matthews United Methodist Church), when 70 young men and women started elementary and secondary level studies. In 1874 the Freedmen’s Aid Society took over the school, which remained under its auspices for 50 years.  Here is more about the history and work of Bennett College: http://www.bennett.edu/about/