Books, Ideas & Reconnection
Reconnect with classmates and colleagues during an alumni reception, open house, and book fair celebrating the scholarship and creative work of the McCormick community. The gathering will feature McCormick alumnus Dr. Randal Maurice Jelks and his book, My America: Langston Hughes on Democracy, a revelatory portrait of the celebrated poet, essayist, playwright, and American artist.
Tracing Hughes’s journey from Kansas City to Paris, New York, Mexico City, and Madrid, Jelks explores how Hughes’s experiences shaped his thinking about art, democracy, and activism. My America reveals a writer who stood unapologetically with the oppressed and believed that art should serve justice—and that democracy could be practiced with joy. Through themes of creative expression, communal dignity, class struggle, and human suffering, the book illuminates how Hughes’s work continues to speak powerfully to the political anxieties and democratic challenges of our time.