The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Cooper Honors Program in English will host Patricia Hill Collins, sociologist and author of seminal works on black feminism and race scholarship, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 17, in Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Building.

Collins’ free lecture, “Still Brave? Black Feminism as a Social Justice Project,” is open to the public and will be followed by a book signing and a reception sponsored by the Arkansas Women’s History Institute.

Her first book, “Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment,” was the first to incorporate the literature of African-American women Angela Davis, Alice Walker, and Audre Lorde.

Her latest book, “On Intellectual Activism,” is required reading for students in Dr. Laura Barrio-Vilar’s Cooper Honors seminar, “Literature and Social Justice.”

“Patricia Hill Collins has been one of the most influential scholars for those of us interested in the intersectionality of race, gender, class, and sexuality as systems of oppression. Reading her work, listening to her public talks, and having her as a professor has had an enormous impact on my development as a scholar and a teacher,” Barrio-Vilar said.

Collins was the 100th president of the American Sociological Association Council, and the first African-American woman to hold this position.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the Office of Campus Life, Institute on Race and Ethnicity, College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences, Anthropology Club, College of Social Sciences and Communication, and the Donaghey Scholars Program.

Collins is a distinguished university professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her latest book, “Intersectionality,” co-authored with Sirma Bilge, will be published in 2016 as part of Polity Press’ Key Concepts Series,”Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice.”

For more information, go to Facebook: Still Brave? lecture or contact Barrio-Vilar at 501.569.8317 or lxbarriovil@ualr.edu.