BADGE Lecture Series - Black Wealth Across the American Century

Black Wealth Across the American Century brings together scholarship, history, economics, and performance for a timely conversation examining Black economic life across the 20th century. Presented as part of the Black Arts, Design & Global Engagement (BADGE) Lecture Series, the program will explore connections between contemporary Black wealth research and August Wilson’s American Century Cycle, his landmark series of plays chronicling the Black experience across ten decades of American life.
 

The conversation will feature Dr. LaTanya White, National Associate and Mid-Atlantic Regional Director of the Howard University & PNC National Center for Entrepreneurship at the Howard University School of Business, and Dr. Khalid Y. Long, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts and President of the August Wilson Society. Through their respective perspectives in economic research, entrepreneurship, theatre, and cultural studies, Drs. White and Long will consider how Black communities have navigated wealth creation, economic opportunity, systemic barriers, and generational change—and how those realities are reflected in Wilson’s dramatic portrait of Black America. Dr. Raquel Monroe, Dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts, will provide opening remarks.

The event takes place Wednesday, September 30, 2026, from 4:00–6:00 p.m. in the Howard University School of Business Auditorium.