Program in Ethics and Public Affairs 

ABSTRACT: The talk draws from the conclusion of my book, The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought. It examines James Baldwin's understanding of democracy amid the persistence of white supremacy. The lecture will elucidate Baldwin's efforts to conceptualize racial progress that sidesteps the pervasive framework of redemption, an outlook that he contends is deeply ingrained in the ethos of American liberalism. 

Melvin Rogers is a Professor of Political Science and Associate Director of the Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Brown University. He is the author of The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality and the Ethos of Democracy and The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Freedom, and Democracy in African American Political Thought. He is also the editor of John Dewey, The Public and Its Problems, co-editor of African American Political Thought: A Collected History, and co-editor of the Oxford New Histories of Philosophy book series. He received the 2023 James W. C. Pennington Award from Heidelberg University for his scholarship.