Villanova University’s Mary M. Birle Lecture Features David Wilkins, PhD, Discussing Political and Legal Experiences of African Americans and Indigenous Peoples

Villanova, Pa. – From pre-colonial times to present, Native nations in North America have maintained their sovereignty and their own governments—engaging with the US government both coercively and voluntarily throughout history. David Wilkins, PhD, the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond, presents “Akin and Apart: The Political and Legal Experiences of African Americans and Indigenous Peoples in the US,” as the featured speaker of the 2022 Mary M. Birle Lecture on Thursday, April 7 at 7 p.m. in Driscoll Auditorium, Driscoll Hall. The event is free and open to the public and accessible via a livestream.

Dr. Wilkins is a citizen of the Lumbee Nation of North Carolina, and the concepts of Native sovereignty, self-determination and diplomacy are at the heart of his research and teaching. He has focused much of his work on the political and legal relationships between Native nations and the federal government.

Dr. Wilkins earned his doctorate in Political Science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author or editor of several books, including Documents of Native American Political Development (Oxford, 2019), Red Prophet: The Punishing Intellectualism of Vine Deloria, Jr. (Fulcrum, 2018), Dismembered: Native Disenrollment and the Battle for Basic Human Rights (with Shelly Hulse Wilkins, University of Washington Press, 2017), and Hollow Justice: Indigenous Claims Against the U.S. (Yale, 2013).

About Villanova University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: Since its founding in 1842, Villanova University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has cultivated knowledge, understanding and intellectual courage for a purposeful life in a challenging and changing world. With more than 40 majors across the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, it is the oldest and largest of Villanova’s colleges, serving more than 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students each year. The College is committed to a teacher-scholar model, offering outstanding undergraduate and graduate research opportunities and a rigorous core curriculum that prepares students to become critical thinkers, strong communicators and ethical leaders with a truly global perspective.