Soledad O'Brien to Speak at Washington University

Soledad O’Brien will be speaking at Washington University in St. Louis as part of the Assembly Series.  The CNN news anchor will speak in Graham Chapel on April 5, 2011.

Her lecture is sponsored by The Association of Black Students, which is sponsoring the lecture as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium.

O’Brien, who anchors CNN's “In America” documentary series on the challenges of living in America for members of various groups, will speak on segregation in the 21st century and hold a question-and-answer session.

Two installments of the “In America” series focus on the struggles and experiences of black people in America. The National Association of Black Journalists named O’Brien Journalist of the Year for 2010, and the NAACP awarded her its President’s Award in 2007. Her reporting has covered everything from Hurricane Katrina to the earthquake in Haiti, focusing primarily on humanitarian concerns.

In addition to anchoring “In America,” O’Brien co-hosted “American Morning” from 2003 to 2009.

O’Brien’s recent book, The Next Big Story: My Journey through the Land of Possibilities, has garnered significant media attention because of her allegation that Jesse Jackson challenged her racial identity during an off-the-air meeting. The daughter of a black Cuban and a white Australian, she considers herself Latina, black and Irish.