March 3, 2006 – Author and activist Randall Robinson will be the featured speaker in the Alfred O. Heath Distinguished Speakers Series at the University of the Virgin Islands on March 14. His talk, entitled "Race and the Making of U.S. Foreign Policy," will take place in Chase Auditorium on the St. Thomas campus and will be video-conferenced to the Melvin Evans Center on St. Croix at 6 p.m., as part of the university's Charter Week activities. Robinson's talk and all UVI Charter Week events are open to the public.
The series offers the public a place to hear nationally and internationally recognized individuals discuss issues related to the challenges and opportunities faced by the V. I. community.
Robinson is the founder and former president of TransAfrica, the organization that initiated the movement to change U.S. foreign policy in apartheid South Africa. He continues to lobby for change in U.S. foreign policy toward African and Caribbean nations.
After receiving a law degree from Harvard University in 1970, he traveled to Tanzania on a Ford Fellowship. Upon his return, his involvement in opposition to the Vietnam War led him to question American policy toward colonialism in Africa. He became a congressional foreign affairs aide in 1975 and two years later, with the support of the Congressional Black Caucus, founded TransAfrica.
Following his talk, Robinson will autograph copies of his most recent book, "Quitting America: The Departure of a Black Man from His Native Land." He is also the author of "The Reckoning: What Blacks Owe To Each Other," "The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks" and "Defending the Spirit : A Black Life in America."
The Alfred O. Heath Distinguished Speakers Series is the University's way of recognizing and celebrating the outstanding person and accomplished citizen that is Dr. Alfred O. Heath. As a UVI trustee emeritus and chair of the Foundation for the University of the Virgin Islands, Dr. Heath is an ardent, longtime supporter of the mission of the university.