Pulitzer winner Eugene Robinson to speak at Trinity’s Maverick Lecture

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On Thursday, Oct. 1, Trinity University’s Maverick Lecture Series will welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eugene Robinson for “Freedom Lost, Freedom Won: A Personal History of America.” The free public lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. in Stieren Theater on Trinity’s campus, and registration is now open.

Robinson will draw on his own family’s connections to slavery and the Civil Rights Movement, placing those experiences within the larger story of African American history. His lecture will explore themes from his latest book, Freedom Lost, Freedom Won: A Personal History of America, published in February. In the book, Robinson uses his family history to illustrate how African American history is a key element of the American story.

For Robinson, that history is deeply personal. His great-great-grandfather was liberated from slavery, and Robinson himself came of age during the Civil Rights Movement in Orangeburg, South Carolina. In 1968, the Orangeburg Massacre occurred within sight of his family home, when police fired on students protesting a segregated bowling alley and killed three unarmed young men. Robinson later attended Orangeburg High School, where he was one of a handful of Black students on the previously all-white campus.

In college, Robinson became the first Black student named co-editor-in-chief of the University of Michigan’s award-winning student newspaper. He went on to a journalism career spanning five decades at The Washington Post, where he served as a reporter, editor, foreign correspondent and columnist. His commentary on the 2008 presidential election earned him the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Commentary. Robinson is also a political analyst for MSNBC and the author of four books.

At Trinity, Robinson will draw on themes from his latest book and his own family history to examine the larger American story.

The lecture is free and open to the public, and registration is required.

Register to attend the Maverick Lecture.

The William and Salomé Scanlan Foundation has sponsored the Maverick Lecture Series for nearly 20 years as a way to honor the legacy of Maury Maverick Jr., an outspoken San Antonio lawyer and former Texas legislator. Speakers are selected for their commitment to issues that shaped Maverick’s place in American civic discourse, including challenges to constitutional liberty, defense of the First Amendment, and questions of poverty and race.