On April 7, Jeffrey B. Perry will give a presentation on Theodore W. Allen’s The Invention of the White Race, as part of the A.C.T.O.R. (A Continuing Talk on Race) open discussion series held monthly at Busboys and Poets. The venue, named with a nod to Langston Hughes, former poet and busboy, started the series as a community service to give people space to speak openly about issues of race. Their intent “is that each person walks away from the discussion feeling something: challenged, educated, uncomfortable, enlightened, refreshed, reassured and hopefully inspired and moved to action.”

Perry contributed notes and an introduction to a new edition of Allen's text, published by Verso in 2012. In the two-volume classic, Allen details the creation of the “white race” by the ruling class as a method of social control, in response to labor unrest precipitated by Bacon's Rebellion. Distinguishing European Americans from African Americans within the laboring class, white privilege enforced the myth of the white race through the years and has been central to maintaining ruling-class domination over the entire working class.

 A discussion will follow Perry’s presentation. The event is free of charge.