NEW YORK: Michelle Obama’s next campaign for her memoir Becoming will focus on college students.
The former First Lady with Black-ish actor Yara Shahidi on November 9 at 1 p.m. from Cal Poly Pomona to Prince George Community College in Largo, Maryland, from where Obama and Shahidi will speak.
BET plans to air the event on television to be scheduled later.
“I can’t wait to hear from students across our country as they navigate their studies and lives during this unprecedented time,” Obama said in a statement on Monday.
As a first generation college student, I remember my own struggles to manage classes and find my place on campus and I can’t even imagine how hard it is to do it during a pandemic, When it feels like it’s constantly up in the air. I hope they realize that moments of self-doubt and fear are completely natural, but if we embrace those moments if we own our stories and use our voices, we can share our relationships with the world. Can share the best parts.
With the November 9 event, Crown is donating 100 copies to each of the 12 schools in the Maryland Community College Consortium.
“We know that this book has been very influential for young people, especially young women, and it has become a benchmark of sorts,” Drake said.
According to Crown President David Drake, Obama’s book, published in 2018, has sold nearly 10 million copies in the US alone, and more than 2,000 copies a week. Most political memoirs, even memoirs of presidents or first ladies, are forgotten after the initial publicity. But Obama’s book is featured everywhere in courses ranging from composition to black women’s studies, from Ohio State University to Fresno City College.
Julie Gallagher, an associate professor of history at Penn State Brandywine, included the book in her curriculum on civil rights in the modern era. She noted that civil rights narratives often focused on the South, but Obama grew up in Chicago, and so told the story of a northern state. And Gallagher found Obama’s memoir to be an invaluable contrast to how black women are often portrayed in the media.
Here is this woman who comes from a very strong, loving family, she said. It is the story of the love, determination, patience, community of many generations striving for the American dream.
In 2020, the University of California, Irvine added Becoming to its Great Big Read for students, faculty, and staff. Marguerite Bonus-Hammerth, the school’s assistant vice chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, told The Associated Press that the topics discussed included self-identity, patriotism, relationships with significant others and families, as well as questioning roles and finding ways to prevent incidents. and the effects of discrimination in society.
Earlier this year, Crown released a youth reader edition for ages 10 and older, which Obama will help promote when he appears at the National Teachers of English Conference on November 18. She will deliver the keynote address and speak with the Vice President. NCTE President, Valerie Kinloch, the first black female dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Education.
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