John McWhorter, Ph.D., will speak on “The Power of Language: What are People hearing when we speak?” on Thursday, July 21, 11:30 am-1:30 pm at the Jewish Federation of St. Louis Kopolow Building. The program is part of the JProStl Power of Difference Series and is targeted to staff who work at Jewish organizations throughout the Jewish community.

Professor McWhorter is associate professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and previously was Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkley. His TEDTalk, “Txting is Killing Language,” has been viewed by more than 1.7 million people. He has written numerous books on language and race and is a contributing editor at The New Republic and has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Time and The New Yorker.  Frequently sought after by the media, Professor McWhorter has appeared on Dateline NBC, Politically Incorrect, Talk of the Nation, Today, Good Morning America, The Jim Lehrer NewsHour, Up with Chris Hayes and Fresh Air.  He is the son-in-law of Bob and Zelda Sparks.

Box lunches can be purchased in advance. RSVP with Marci Mayer Eisen at the Jewish Federation of St. Louis at MEisen@JFedSTL.org or 314-442-3810. An initiative of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, JProStl is a professional association for staff who work at 50+ nonprofit organizations within the St. Louis Jewish community and supported by the Lubin-Green Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, Mont & Karen Levy and Bill Solomon and family.

Sam March
Author: Sam March