Earl Lewis: The Contours of Repair
View of the Foundry from under Milstein Hall's cantilevered L. P. Kwee studios (2024). Anson Wigner / AAP
Abstract
Following the murder of George Floyd, many paused and asked how this could happen, why did this happen, and what can be done to ensure it never happens again. At one level, the questions sought a path toward repair or reparations. For African Americans, the search for repair has moved through at least three historical periods—slavery, segregation, and mass incarceration. As we enter a period of retrenchment, we must ask: where do we go from here? Is there a road to repair? By tracing the history of the search for repair, Dr. Earl Lewis sketches past challenges and suggests future possibilities.
Biography
Earl Lewis is the Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of History, Afro-American and African Studies, and Public Policy and director of the Center for Social Solutions at the University of Michigan. From March 2013-2018, he served as President of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. A noted author and esteemed social historian, he is past President of the Organization of American Historians. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2008) and the American Academy of Political & Social Sciences (2022), he is the recipient of twelve honorary degrees. Lewis has held faculty and administrative appointments at Michigan (1989-2004) and the University of California, Berkeley (1984-89). From 2004-2012, he served as Emory University's Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of History and African American Studies. In addition to prior service on a number of nonprofit and governmental boards, Lewis chaired the Board of Regents at Concordia College-Moorhead, is a trustee and vice chair of the board at ETS, and a director of 2U and the Capital Group, American Funds.
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