Book Discussion | “The Trayvon Generation” by Elizabeth Alexander

Elizabeth Alexander (Yale BA 1984) in conversation with artists Jordan Casteel (Yale MFA 2014) and Glenn Ligon, whose work is featured in her new book, The Trayvon Generation. Courtney J. Martin (Yale PhD 2009), Paul Mellon Director, Yale Center for British Art, will moderate the discussion about how art and culture can illuminate America’s unresolved problem with race.

A book signing and reception will follow. 

About “The Trayvon Generation”

In the midst of civil unrest in the summer of 2020 and following the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, Elizabeth Alexander—one of the great literary voices of our time—turned a mother’s eye to her sons’ and students’ generation and wrote a celebrated and moving reflection on the challenges facing young Black America. Originally published in the New Yorker, the essay incisively and lovingly observed the experiences, attitudes, and cultural expressions of what she calls “the Trayvon Generation,” who even as children could not be shielded from the brutality that has affected the lives of so many Black people.

The Trayvon Generation expands the viral essay that spoke so resonantly to the persistence of race as an ongoing issue at the center of the American experience. Alexander looks both to our past and our future with profound insight, brilliant analysis, and mighty heart, interweaving her voice with groundbreaking works of art by some of our most extraordinary artists. At this crucial time in American history, when we reckon with who we are as a nation and how we move forward, Alexander’s lyrical prose gives us perspective informed by historical understanding, her lifelong devotion to education, and an intimate grasp of the visioning power of art.

This breathtaking book is essential reading, and an expression of both the tragedies and hopes for the young people of this era that is sure to be embraced by those who are leading the movement for change and anyone rising to meet the moment.

About Elizabeth Alexander

Alexander is a prizewinning and New York Times bestselling author, renowned poet, educator, scholar, and cultural advocate. Among the fifteen books she has authored or co-authored, her memoir, The Light of the World, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2015 and her poetry collection American Sublime was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2006. Notably, Alexander composed and recited “Praise Song for the Day” for President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration. Over the course of an esteemed career in education, she has held distinguished professorships at Smith College, Columbia University, and Yale University, where she taught for fifteen years and chaired the African American Studies Department. Alexander is currently president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the nation’s largest funder in the arts, culture, and humanities.

This program is presented through the generosity of the Terry F. Green 1969 Fund for British Art and Culture.