Claiming Williams, 2021: Ericka Hart Keynote

Claiming Williams, 2021:

Ericka Hart

February 18, 2021 @ 11 a.m. EST

Ericka Hart (pronouns: she/they) is a black queer femme activist, writer, highly-acclaimed speaker, and award-winning sexuality educator with a Master’s of Education in Human Sexuality from Widener University. Ericka’s work broke ground when she went topless showing her double mastectomy scars in public in 2016. Since then, she has been in demand at colleges and universities across the country, featured in countless digital and print publications like Vogue, Washington Post, Allure, Harper’s Bazaar, VICE, PAPER Mag, BBC News, Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair, W Magazine, Glamour, Elle, and Essence. Ericka’s voice is rooted in leading-edge thought around human sexual expression as inextricable to overall human health and its intersections with race, gender, chronic illness, and disability. Both radical and relatable, she continues to push well beyond the threshold of sex-positivity. Ericka Hart has taught sexuality education for elementary-aged youth to adults across New York City for over 10 years, including for 4 years at Columbia University’s School of Social work and the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College. They are currently an adjunct faculty member at Widener University’s Center for Human Sexuality, a bratty switchy Sagittarius service bottom and misses Whitney more than you.

Ericka Hart’s talk is sponsored by Claiming Williams, Africana Studies, the Dean of the College, the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Davis Center, the BSU, FemCo, WASO, Sisterhood, Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and FAST. Ericka’s talk will be followed by a moderated audience Q&A.

The theme for Claiming Williams 2021 is “From Racial Injustice to Restoration.” Throughout the day, we aim to explore the ways in which structural racial inequities, racism, and bigotry on campus and in the wider world have shaped the Williams College experience for students, faculty, and staff. All events are directed to the campus community unless they are specified “open to the public” or are listed on the public calendar.


Thank you BSU for advocating for Ericka Hart to be a keynote speaker at this year’s Claiming Williams festivities.  To learn more about BSU’s events to recognize and celebrate Black History Month, click here.