Release date: May 16, 2003
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu

Emory Awards DuBois Biographer Honorary Degree May 12

Atlanta native David Levering Lewis, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of W.E.B. DuBois, received an honorary doctor of letters degree and delivered brief remarks during Emory University's 158th commencement ceremony Monday, May 12, for 3,302 graduates. University President William M. Chace, who will be retiring to the English department faculty this fall, also presided over his last commencement Monday.

Currently the Martin Luther King Jr. University Professor of History at Rutgers University, Lewis is the author of a two-volume biography of W.E.B. DuBois, published in 1994 and 2001, receiving the Pulitzer Prize both times. Lewis spoke of the benefits the current generation enjoys due to the "contagious" civil rights revolution of the 1960s and 70s, although society still falls short of the "Beloved Community" envisioned by Martin Luther King Jr. He also told the Class of 2003 that they stand at the beginning of a new era marked by Sept. 11, and that "Where we go from this moment depends decisively upon the direction your generation will chart for the nation."

Lewis attended the same high school as Martin Luther King and has taught at numerous universities around the world. Lewis delivered the keynote address at Emory's international conference on lynching last fall that complemented the exhibition "Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America."

** NOTE TO EDITORS: Faxed copies of Lewis's speech and his honorary degree citation are available. A photo is available as a 300 dpi jpeg.

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