Imani Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and a faculty associate with Gender and Sexuality Studies and Jazz Studies. In the summer of 2023 she will join the faculty at Harvard University as a Radcliffe Professor. Perry is also a contributing writer for The Atlantic and the author of seven books, most recently South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation (Ecco Books, 2022), which received the 2022 National Book Award for Nonfiction and was an instant New York Times bestseller and Indie bestseller. South to America was named one of President Obama’s favorite books of 2022, and included in numerous end-of-year best-of lists. Her book Breathe: A Letter to My Sons (Beacon Press, 2019) was a finalist for the 2020 Chautauqua Prize and a finalist for the NAACP Image Award for Excellence in Nonfiction. She is also the author of Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry (Beacon Press, 2018), which received the Pen Bograd-Weld Award for Biography, the Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss Award for outstanding work in literary scholarship, the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction and the Shilts-Grahn Award for nonfiction from the Publishing Triangle. Looking for Lorraine was also named a 2018 notable book by the New York Times, and an honor book by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It was a finalist for the African American Intellectual History Society Paul Murray Book Prize. Her book May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem (University of North Carolina Press, 2018) was a winner of the 2019 American Studies Association John Hope Franklin Book Award for the best book in American Studies, the Hurston Wright Award for Nonfiction, and finalist for an NAACP Image Award in Nonfiction. Perry has written for numerous publications including The New York Times Magazine, The Progressive, New York Magazine, Harpers, and The Paris Review.

She is a scholar of law, literary and cultural studies, and an author of creative nonfiction. She earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from Harvard University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an LLM from Georgetown University Law Center, and a BA from Yale College in Literature and American Studies. Her writing and scholarship primarily focus on the history of Black thought, art, and imagination. She seeks to understand the processes of retrenchment after moments of social progress, and how freedom dreams are nevertheless sustained. Her book: Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation (Duke University Press, 2018) is a work of critical theory that describes the formation of modern patriarchy at the dawn of capitalism, the transatlantic slave trade and the age of conquest, and traces it through to the contemporary hypermedia neoliberal era. Her book More Beautiful and More Terrible: The Embrace and Transcendence of Racial Inequality in the United States (NYU Press, 2011) is an examination of contemporary practices of racial inequality that are sustained and extended through a broad matrix of cultural habits despite formal declarations of racial equality. Her first book, Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop (Duke Press, 2004) was one of the earliest scholarly examinations of the music and culture.

The 2023 Ware Lecture will take place at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, June 24. In-person registration is required to attend the event in Pittsburgh. In-person or full virtual registration is required to live-stream the event on June 24, or access the video on-demand when it is posted.

Join us in Minneapolis & online April 1-3 for the UU Office at the UN’s Intergenerational Spring Seminar, with the theme of “Demilitarization & Abolition: Resist Policing and Empire.” This gathering, planned in close collaboration with the UU College of Social Justice and UU Service Committee, is specifically designed for Youth (aged 14-18) and adults to build their knowledge & skills to take action locally. We are thrilled that our keynote will be offered by Andrea Ritchie, co-author of No More Police: A Case for Abolition. Learn more about the event at uua.org/seminar and register by March 15!

Attending General Assembly in-person this year? Interested in finding a roommate to share the cost of housing? The GA Room Share Board is a resource for anyone. Simply fill out the form below and you’ll automatically be added to the Room Share Board. There, you can browse the list of others interested in room shares, and reach out directly to discuss options.

The UUA has contracted rooms at specific hotels near the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA. These properties have agreed to offer competitive rates to GA attendees as well as rebates and other incentives that will reduce the overall cost of hosting GA in Pittsburgh. By booking with the GA housing block, you help the UUA meet this goal. Additionally, you benefit from reservation management and customer service offered by Connections Housing.

Reserve your housing today! To book your room today, visit the GA Housing Reservation System. Any reservations canceled after May 22 will be subject to a $50 cancelation fee. The housing reservation system will close for new reservations on May 23.

You are warmly invited to submit a proposal for inclusion in the 2023 GA Virtual Poster Fair. Stories, initiatives, and examples of inspiring work in Unitarian Universalism will be featured in the Virtual Poster Fair, available to GA registrants through the General Assembly App by Whova. Selections will be made based on the quality of proposals, embrace of diversity and inclusion, potential to provide attendees with concrete and usable tools, and the balance of multiple identity-based and theological perspectives. View last GA's Poster Fair selections.

The proposal deadline is Wednesday, March 15.

General Assembly Planners are committed to the goal of making the General Assembly accessible to the maximum number of attendees possible. Financial support to attend GA – virtually or in-person – is offered to those with need. These awards are funded through the generosity of General Assembly registrants via donations made during registration.

There are several options for GA discounts and financial support. Watch this video for details.

Join us June 21 - 25, 2023 online or in-person in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. General Assembly 2023 will be a multiplatform event, with registration options for in-person and/or virtual participation. In-person registration includes access to events scheduled to take place in Pittsburgh, as well as everything available to virtual registrants. Full virtual registration includes access to the GA app, as well as all on-demand programming, live webinars, and live-streamed events.

In-person registration is $400 for adults, and $300 for high school youth, emerging adults (18-24), and retired and candidate ministers. Full Virtual Registration is $250. Register now and use the payment plan to pay over time. Financial support is also available. In-person registration rates will increase on March 1 and again on May 1.

In order to raise interest and to help Unitarian Universalist congregations and partner organizations learn more about General Assembly, we have assembled promotional resources to share with your constituents. Feel free to use these materials to share the invitation to GA with your networks. Also, follow our social media platforms for additional updates and announcements to re-post in your feed! Follow us on Twitter @UUAGA or Instagram @UUAgacs.