Taylor Branch is an American author and public speaker best known for his landmark narrative history of the civil rights era, America in the King Years. The trilogy’s first book, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63, won the Pulitzer Prize and numerous other awards. Two successive volumes also gained critical and popular success: Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65, and At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968. Branch’s work on Dr. King and the American Civil Rights Movement required over 24 years of intensive research. He earned his M.P.A. from Princeton University and is a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.

• There will be a reception, book signing, and Q&A immediately following the lecture.
• A post-lecture reflection will commence at 9:15 pm at Ladd House.