In a free, public lecture, Juliana “Jewels” Smith will discuss (H)afrocentric, her comic series featuring four disgruntled undergrads of color and their adventures at Ronald Reagan University.

In 2016, Smith took home the 2016 Glyph Award for Best Writer for her independent four volume series. She was also honored by the African American Library and Museum of Oakland with the first annual Excellence in Comics and Graphic Novels Award. She created (H)afrocentric as a way to challenge students and readers alike about the presumptions around race, class, gender and sexuality through character dialogue. She has given talks about the relationship between comics, humor, racial justice, and gender equity at The Schomburg Center, New York Comic Con, Studio Museum of Harlem and more.

This event is part of "Drawing Lines: The Black American Experience," a three-part series of events at The Cooper Union. The other events include: 

The Honorable John Lewis in the Great Hall (May 11)
The U.S. Representative of the 5th Congressional District of Georgia and a long-standing leader of civil and human rights, will deliver a free, public address

Black Pulp! (May 13)
William Villalongo A'99, assistant professor in the School of Art, and Mark Thomas Gibson A'02 will discuss Black Pulp!, a traveling exhibition they co-curated that examines the evolving perspectives of Black identity in American culture and history from 1912 to 1990 through rare historical printed media and contemporary art