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March 27, 2014 – The Rev. Dr. Traci C. West, professor of ethics and African American studies at Drew University Theological School, will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 3 in Ford Chapel at Allegheny College. Her lecture, titled “Racism, Christianity, and Our Moral Values That Support Sex-Trafficking,” is part of the Year of Civil Rights at the college.

During her visit, West is also meeting with students and faculty in classes and at other campus events. Her teaching, research and activism focus on constructive liberative Christian social ethics in churches and society related to issues of race, gender and sexuality.

She is the author of “Disruptive Christian Ethics: When Racism and Women’s Lives Matter” and “Wounds of the Spirit: Black Women, Violence, and Resistance Ethics” and editor of “Our Family Values: Religion and Same-sex Marriage.” She is currently working on antiracist, narrative ethics, research that includes interviews she conducted in Ghana, Brazil and South Africa with activist leaders working to end gender-based violence.

West is an ordained elder in the New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and is a member of United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church. She participated in an interfaith clergy delegation to Baghdad and was interviewed in “NO!” — a documentary on violence against black women — and “Breaking Silences: A Supplemental Video to NO!”

Her lecture at Allegheny is supported by the Harry C. Winslow and Madeleine King Winslow Ecumenical Fund.

The Year of Civil Rights at Allegheny College celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and explores the state of civil rights, broadly defined, in our world today. More information can be found at www.allegheny.edu/200.