Famed actress, activist and filmmaker, Erika Alexander presents the keynote lecture at the annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium at the University of Michigan, which PBS Books will be livestreaming on Jan. 20.
Alexander is an actress, trailblazing activist, entrepreneur, creator, producer, director and one of the country’s boldest, most daring, and powerful voices. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Maxine Shaw in “Living Single,” Detective Latoya in “GET OUT,” Cousin Pam in “The Cosby Show,” and recently Coraline in the hit movie, “American Fiction.
Recognizing the power of storytelling, Alexander believes that although content must be entertaining, stories have tremendous capacity to create impact and meaningful social change. As co-founder of Color Farm Media, she is on a mission to bring greater equity, inclusion, and diverse representation to both media and electoral politics.
A critical thought leader on racial and gender equity and leadership, she serves as a board member for One Fair Wage and is highly involved with social and racial justice organizations including The Poor People’s Campaign, Color of Change, NAACP, UNCF, among others.
This special PBS Books presentation is offered in conjunction with the University of Michigan Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives.
Learn more at https://oami.umich.edu/mlk-symposium/
Erika Alexander
Actress, Activist, Entrepreneur, Creator, Producer and Director
Erika Alexander is an actress, trailblazing activist, entrepreneur, creator, producer, director and one of the country’s boldest, most daring, and powerful voices. Recognizing the power of storytelling, Erika believes that though content must be entertaining, stories have tremendous capacity
to create impact and meaningful social change. As co-founder of Color Farm Media, she is on a mission to bring greater equity, inclusion, and diverse representation to both media and electoral politics.
Erika has recently stepped boldly into the arena of film director, with her debut film THE BIG PAYBACK, co-directed with Whitney Dow. The film debuted at Tribeca Festival and premiered on PBS on MLK Day 2023. The documentary chronicles the story of the first reparations bill for African Americans in U.S. history.
She is also creator/writer/producer of 2022 Audible Original’s Best True Crime Series and DuPont Columbia award-nominee, FINDING TAMIKA, and producer of the three-time, Emmy-nominated Best Documentary and winner, NAACP Best Documentary, JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE.
Her upcoming projects include THE UNTITLED NOVELIST project, directed by Cord Jefferson; with Jeffrey Wright, Tracy Ross, Sterling K. Williams and Issa Rae.
A critical thought leader on racial and gender equity and leadership, she serves as a board member for One Fair Wage and is highly involved with social and racial justice organizations including The Poor People’s Campaign, Color of Change, NAACP, UNCF, among others.
