Noted essayist and cultural scholar Gerald Early explores this provocative question in a free talk Friday at Pitt.

Early is known for books like Tuxedo Junction: Esays on American Culture (1994) and This Is Where I Came In: Essays on Black America in the 1960s (2003). He was also a key talking head in Ken Burns PBS documentaries including Jazz, Baseball and Unforgivable Blackness: The rise and Fall of Jack Johnson.

Early is a professor of English and Afro-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also directs the Center for the Humanities.

His talk Friday is part of Pitt’s Center for Race and Social Problems’ Reed Smith Spring 2013 Speakers Series. Registration is required at www.crsp.pitt.edu or by calling 412-624-7382. Lunch will be provided.

The location is at the Center, in the School of Social Work Conference Center, 20th floor, Cathedral of Learning (4200 Fifth Ave.), in Oakland.