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Whitworth University Welcomes Acclaimed Author Austin Channing Brown

January 31, 2019
Austin Channing Brown, a leading new voice on racial justice and author of I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, will be the featured speaker at Whitworth University for African American Heritage Month on Tuesday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m. in Weyerhaeuser Hall’s Robinson Teaching Theatre.


Her book, released in May 2018, quickly rose to the top of Amazon’s best-seller list.

It has received high acclaim from many reviewers and has been featured in Religion News Service, On Being, The Chicago Tribune, Relevant and more.

Brown's first encounter with a racialized America came at age 7, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man.

Growing up in majority-white schools, organizations and churches, Brown writes, "I had to learn what it means to love blackness."

Brown has worked with nonprofits, churches, parachurch ministries and universities in both the urban and suburban context for the advancement of racial justice and reconciliation. Most recently she served as a resident director and multicultural liaison at Calvin College.

Brown will explore the topics of racial justice, black womanhood and the current state of today’s world. In her latest blog post, she asks, “What if we believed in the core of our being that we are strong, that we are creative, that we’re here to participate in making a difference?” She will engage the audience in answering these questions during her discussion

Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private, liberal arts university affiliated with the Presbyterian church. The university, which has an enrollment of more than 3,000 students, offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Contacts: 

Trisha Coder, media relations manager, Whitworth University, (509) 777-4703 or tcoder@whitworth.edu