From BGSU SCHOOL OF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS
Donovan X. Ramsey, an author and journalist who focuses on the unheard stories of Black America, will be the Florence and Jesse Currier keynote speaker on Thursday, April 11 from 7-8 p.m. in Room 201 of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union. He will be talking about his book, “When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era,” a critically acclaimed narrative history examining the crack epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s.
Ramsey’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, The Atlantic, GQ, Ebony and Essence, among others. He has also been a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times. He has been called “an indispensable voice on issues of racial identity, politics and patterns of power in America.” Ramsey holds degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Morehouse College. He was born and raised in Columbus, OH.
“When Crack Was King” chronicles the stories of four survivors of the crack epidemic: Elgin Swift, whose father was addicted to crack and turned their home into a “crack house”; Lennie Woodley, a sex worker and ex-crack addict; Kurt Schmoke, the longtime mayor of Baltimore and an early advocate for drug decriminalization; and Shawn McCray, who co-founded of the notorious Newark, New Jersey, drug trafficking group called the Zoo Crew.
Ramsey examines how the government and society failed its own people, how policies shaped the public perception of crack users, and the lasting impacts of continued incarceration and over-policing of minor drug offenses, especially in communities of color.
“Ramsey’s debut work of nonfiction is a master class in disrupting a stubborn narrative, a monumental feat for the fraught subject of addiction in Black communities,” wrote Zachary Siegel in a review for the The Washington Post.
Ramsey is visiting campus as part of the two-day “Spotlight on Journalism and Public Relations,” organized by the School of Media and Communication. As part of the event, Ramsey and notable BGSU journalism alumni will also be speaking to classes.
