Coastal Carolina University will celebrate the 2017 Ella Baker Day on Tuesday, April 18, as a part of "Celebrate Social Justice Week" with a keynote address by Rosa Clemente. The celebration will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Johnson Auditorium (Room 116) of the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration. This event is free and open to the public.

Ella Josephine Baker (1903-1986) is widely recognized as one of the nation's greatest activists. Baker worked with organizations such as Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Baker is known as the mother of the Civil Rights Movement and was respected for her belief in the potential and dignity of every individual.

Clemente is an Afro-Latinx political commentator, community organizer, independent journalist and 2008 Green Party vice presidential candidate. She is the president and founder of Know Thy Self Productions, which has produced four major community activism tours. She is a leading scholar on the issues of Afro-Latinx identity and her groundbreaking 2001 article "Who is Black?" was the catalyst for discussion regarding Blackness in the Latinx culture. Clemente travels nationally as a public speaker at a wide range of events. She has spent her life dedicated to scholar activism and is currently a doctoral student in the W.E.B. Dubois department of UMASS-Amherst.

The Celebrate Social Justice week is sponsored by the Social Justice Research Initiative (SJRI). The SJRI aims to promote and integrate community-based research, experiential learning and project-based community service by collaborating with diverse community partners to promote social justice and change.

The Wall Building is located at 119 Chanticleer Drive E., on the Conway campus. For more information, contact Deborah Perkins at dperkins@coastal.edu or 843-349-2693.