{"id":100980,"date":"2026-03-13T19:16:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T23:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/?p=100980"},"modified":"2026-03-13T19:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T23:16:07","slug":"bennett-college-announces-dr-melissa-harris-perry-as-charter-day-centennial-keynote-speaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/bennett-college-announces-dr-melissa-harris-perry-as-charter-day-centennial-keynote-speaker\/","title":{"rendered":"Bennett College Announces Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry as Charter Day Centennial Keynote Speaker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Bennett College celebrates its Centennial as a women’s college, we are proud to announce that renowned scholar, journalist, and writer Dr.<\/strong> Melissa Harris-Perry will deliver the Charter Day Keynote Address on Sunday, March 29, 2026 from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm EST in the Annie Merner Pfeiffer Chapel.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bennett
Bennett College Announces Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry as Charter Day Centennial Keynote Speaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Charter Day marks the chartering of Bennett College by the state of North Carolina in 1889 and provides an opportunity to reflect on the institution’s historic mission: educating women who lead with courage, intellect, and a commitment to justice. In this centennial year, the College honors one hundred years of Bennett women shaping the world—and looks ahead to the next century of impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introducing the Charter Day Centennial Keynote Speaker<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Harris-Perry embodies the spirit of this moment. She is the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair<\/a> at Wake Forest University, where she teaches and conducts research on American politics at the intersections of race, gender, and place. A leading voice in public scholarship, she is the founder and president of the Anna Julia Cooper Center, an institute dedicated to advancing justice through intersectional research and action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is the award-winning author of the influential books Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought<\/em> and Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America<\/em>, works that explore the intellectual traditions and lived political experiences of Black communities and Black women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Harris-Perry has also played a prominent role in national media and public dialogue. She hosted the groundbreaking MSNBC program Melissa Harris-Perry, earning the prestigious Hillman Prize for broadcast journalism. She later served as host and managing editor of The Takeaway, heard on hundreds of public radio stations nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a moment when Bennett College<\/a> is reflecting on a century of educating bold women leaders, Dr. Harris-Perry’s voice—grounded in scholarship, activism, and storytelling—offers a powerful perspective on the enduring role of Black women in shaping communities and the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year’s Charter Day celebration will serve as both a commemoration of Bennett’s historic legacy and a call to action for the next generation of Bennett Belles.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Bennett College celebrates its Centennial as a women’s college, we are proud to announce that renowned scholar, journalist, and writer Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry will deliver the Charter Day Keynote Address on Sunday, March 29, 2026 from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm EST in the Annie Merner Pfeiffer Chapel. Charter Day marks the chartering of Bennett College […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[723,754,706,262],"class_list":["post-100980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bennett-college-news","tag-announcement","tag-centennial","tag-event","tag-speaker"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100980"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100986,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100980\/revisions\/100986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bennett.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}