A retired U.S. ambassador will explore the impact of race relations on U.S. foreign and domestic policy during the Donia Human Right Center’s annual lecture that is part of the 2021 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium.
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The event featuring Susan D. Page, professor of practice in international diplomacy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and professor from practice at the Law School, will be at 4 p.m. Jan. 27 via Zoom.
“In my talk, I will explore the presence and impact of race relations on U.S. foreign policy and U.S. actions at home,” Page wrote in a description of the event on the Donia Center’s website.
“I will speak to these issues through the lens of the diplomatic profession, including through the unique challenges and experiences I faced as a Black woman, and first U.S. ambassador to the world’s newest independent nation, the Republic of South Sudan, serving under the first biracial American president of the U.S.”
The webinar is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Page, a Harvard-trained lawyer, has a deep background and expertise in international relations. She was sworn in as ambassador to the Republic of South Sudan on Nov. 16, 2011. Following her historic tenure as the first U.S. ambassador to the world’s newest nation, she served as acting permanent representative to the African Union and the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa and Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., to the U.S. Mission to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Later, she chaired the U.S. government’s multi-agency Security Governance Initiative team for Ghana.
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Page has held many other positions in international affairs and has received several top awards for her work related to Sudan, South Sudan and the Great Lakes region of Africa.
She began her foreign affairs career at the U.S. Department of State in 1991 as attorney-adviser for Politico-Military Affairs in the Office of the Legal Adviser following the conclusion of her Rotary International Postgraduate Fellowship to Nepal, where she conducted research on women’s and children’s rights.
Steven R. Ratner, Bruno Simma Collegiate Professor of Law and director of the Donia Human Rights Center, said the intersection of U.S. foreign policy and domestic racism is a topic that fits in well with the symposium.
“It is an aspect of civil rights and human rights that is important to examine,” he said.
