Prairie View A&M University welcomes Dr. W. Gabriel Selassie I to campus on Thursday, February 21 at 4:00 pm, for a Symposium: Scholars’ Voices Series,  African American Culture and History. The symposium will take place in the Don K. Clark Auditorium.

About Dr. W. Gabriel Selassie I:
Dr. W. Gabriel Selassie I is the Ralph Bunche Associate Professor of History and Religion at the Los Angeles City College. He holds a Ph.D. and Master’s in history from the Claremont Graduate University, a Masters in African American studies at the University of California at Los Angeles, a Master’s in Public History and Historic Preservation from California State University at Dominguez Hills, a Master’s degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame and a  Bachelor of Architecture from Prairie View A & M University. He also holds a certificate in Democracy in Africa from University of Oxford, St. Antony’s College.

A historian of American history, African American & African Diasporic intellectual history, and culture, Professor Selassie I’s research and writing spans intellectual, social and culture history, religion, third world protest movements, and popular culture (music and sports). His popular blog, “Niyabinghi Blues: Sorrow Songs of a Rastafari” featured thoughtful articles on race, culture, and history.

Professor Selassie I specializes in the intersection of Marcus Garvey (Garveyism), religion and race.  His work particularly focuses on the ways in which the black community seeks avenues of cultural, religious and social expression.  His first book, An Introduction and Analysis of The Holy Piby by Shepherd Robert Athlyi Rogers (1924), is the first of its kind to explore the religious and cultural context of one of the premier Rastafari biblical texts. He has written extensively on the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL), Negro Ritual and Negro Catechism and its inter-play with the genealogy of western thought.  His work also looks at transcultural and transnational outcomes of race and racism, particularly white supremacy.