Frederick Douglass Medal Presentation and "Social Justice and Its Challenges"

February 6, 2013

President Joel Seligman presented this year's Frederick Douglass Medal to renowned anthropologist Yolanda T. Moses, a leading scholar on the origins of social inequality, former president of the City College of New York, and one of the driving forces behind the creation of the traveling exhibition "RACE: Are We So Different?" currently at the Rochester Museum & Science Center.

"I just want to say thank you for this wonderful honor," said Moses. "Frederick Douglass has been my touchstone throughout my entire career. And it is wonderful to have this award."

A past president of the American Anthropological Association, Moses is currently the associate vice chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Excellence at the University of California at Riverside. She also is involved in national projects to promote diversity in education with the National Council for Research on Women and the Women of Color Research Collective. Moses has served as chair of the advisory board for the traveling RACE exhibit, which explores the topic of race through the lens of anthropology, biology, and history.

President Seligman holds a copy of the companion book from the RACE exhibit, which Moses co-authored.

The exhibit seeks "to tell the fact that race is a recent invention," she said. "Race is about culture, not biology." Our understanding of culture and biology, said Moses, is "embedded in our ever day institutions and our everyday life."

A panel discussion of "Social Justice and Its Challenges" presented by the Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies followed the presentation of the medal. The panel was moderated by anthropology professor Daniel Reichman, and panelists included Warner School professor Judy Marquez Kiyama, College of William & Mary professor of anthropology Michael Blakey, CEO for Action for a Better Community James Norman, and former Rochseter mayor and professor of public policy and urban studies at RIT, Bill Johnson.

VIDEO: Watch the award presentation and panel: Part 1 | Part 2

Created in 2008, the Frederick Douglass medal has been awarded to six prior recipients: Garth Fagan, founder and artistic director of Garth Fagan Dance; Deborah Gray White, professor of history at Rutgers University; Lani Guinier, professor of law at Harvard University; Gerald Torres, professor of law at the University of Texas at Austin; David Kearns, former CEO of Xerox Corp.; and Walter Cooper, retired research scientist at Eastman Kodak Co.

Yolanda Moses speaks to the audience in the Hawkins Carlson Room, as members of the panel discussion look on.

"As the U.S. continues to confront the notions that race and racism are on the wane, it is more important than ever for us to have complex nuanced ways of talking about the issue," Moses concluded in her remarks during the panel discussion. We need to "ask collectively the question as anthropologists, educators, and researchers, what are the next steps for a public project that engages the university in creating new research and teaching" that will affect policy.

President Seligman, Yolanda Moses, and Cilas Kemedjio, director of the Frederick Douglass Institute.