Richard Rodriguez, award-winning author and regular essayist on the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," will discuss what he calls the "browning of America" April 19 at 7 p.m. in room 100 of the Mathematics Building at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Rodriguez also will speak April 20 at 7 p.m. at the Denver Public Library conference center, 10 W. 14th Ave. Parkway. Both events are free and open to the public and both will be preceded by a reception and book signing at 6 p.m. Books will be available for purchase at both events.
"When Rodriguez speaks, words carry an electric charge," said CU-Boulder history Professor Patricia Nelson Limerick, chair of the Center of the American West. "You can disagree with him, but you cannot remain unmoved."
In his latest book, a memoir titled "Brown: The Last Discovery of America," Rodriguez explores the idea that America, due to its long-enduring presence of Hispanics, is in the 21st century becoming Latinized, becoming brown.
Rodriguez is an editor at the Pacific News Services in San Francisco and a contributing editor for Harper's Magazine and the Sunday opinion section of the Los Angeles Times. He also is the author of "Hunger of Memory" and "Days of Obligation." Rodriguez appears regularly as an essayist on the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS.
Rodriguez, a Catholic, gay, Republican Mexican-American, has examined the intersection of his private life with public issues, especially in matters of class and ethnicity.
According to Rodriguez, America has been brown since its inception in that both color and country are the amalgam of European, African and Indian cultures and a product of the past. Yet modern American culture tries to classify its citizens as either black or white, he said.
Both of the talks are sponsored by the CU-Boulder Center of the American West. The Denver event is co-sponsored by the Denver Public Library and the Tattered Cover Book Store.Ìý
For more information call the CU-Boulder Center of the American West at (303) 492-4879 or visit .