On Monday, January 20, renowned author and professor Dr. Daniel Black will deliver the keynote address at the 40th Nashville MLK Day Convocation at the TSU Gentry Center.
Dr. Daniel Black is a 30-year professor of African American Studies at Clark Atlanta University. He is also an award-winning novelist, activist, mentor and public speaker.
His published works include They Tell Me of a Home, The Sacred Place, Perfect Peace, Twelve Gates to the City, The Coming, Listen to the Lambs, Don’t Cry for Me, and Black on Black: On Our Resilience and Brilliance in America.
In 2014, he won the Distinguished Writer’s Award from the Mid-Atlantic Writer’s Association. The Go On Girl! National Book Club named him ‘Author of the Year’ in 2011 for his best-selling novel Perfect Peace.
Perfect Peace was also chosen as the 2014 selection for ‘If All Arkansas Read the Same Book’ by the Arkansas Center for the Book at the Arkansas State Library. The novel has been reprinted more than 10 times and is being heralded as an American literary classic.
Dr. Black has been nominated (three times) for the Townsend Literary Prize, the Ernest J. Gaines Award, the Ferro-Grumbley Literary Prize, the Lambda Literary Award, the Georgia Author of the Year Prize, and the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award.
Dr. Black’s newest work is his first essay collection titled Black on Black, which was released on January 30, 2023. In response to this work, renowned Baldwin scholar Dr. Eddie Glaude said: “Black on Black is a tour de force. Brilliant. Passionate. Deeply caring. One reads these essays and feels immediately enveloped in Daniel Black’s love—even when he challenges you or when you might disagree. I really needed to read this book in these trying times.”
Dr. Black also works as a diversity consultant, having spoken at top-tier companies in America such as Google, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, AT&T, and Global Payments. He assists corporations with creating work environments in which all employees, of every level and difference, feel supported and valued.
A native of Kansas City, Kansas, Dr. Black spent his formative years in rural Blackwell, Arkansas. He graduated from Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University) where he earned the prestigious Oxford Modern British Studies fellowship and studied abroad at Oxford University.
He was then awarded a full fellowship to Temple University where he studied with Black Arts Movement poet laureate Sonia Sanchez and, in 1992, earned his Ph.D. in African American Studies.
Dr. Black has spent the majority of his 30 academic years as a professor of African American Studies at his beloved alma mater, Clark Atlanta University.
Dr. Black lives in Atlanta and is the founder of the Ndugu-Nzinga Rites of Passage Nation, a mentoring society for people of African descent who seek to love themselves and build a world of character for their people.
Currently, Dr. Black has completed the literary sequel to Don’t Cry for Me, tentatively titled Isaac’s Song. He is also working on part II of The Coming titled The Second Coming and a black scripture titled The Good Book.
The Martin Luther King Day celebration in Nashville, hosted by the Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship (IMF), is the city’s largest and most impactful event dedicated to honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year’s theme is ‘40 Years of Legacy: Marching Forward, United in Justice & Peace.’ The celebration has highlighted Dr. King’s influence on the Civil Rights Movement and the significant role his message has played in inspiring local activism throughout the city.
