"In white memory, which has been the dominant memory, blacks are usually absent. They just do not figure in the American story, except as slaves, as reminders of guilt. And nobody likes to be reminded of guilt"--David K. Shipler, A Country of Strangers: Blacks and Whites in America.

On September 14, 2001, Kent State University's Ashtabula Campus sponsored its colloquium on race based on David K. Shipler's A Country of Strangers by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Arab and Jew. This collection of 18 papers explores such topics as blacks and whites in the performing arts; racial profiling; racism in American baseball; race, work and wholeness; musical style as a symbol of black cultural identity; the early Newberry Library in Chicago; the use of the body by artists to reveal the mind; Southern white ministers at mid-century; building a diverse and respectful campus community; organizational changes creating a new climate for racial equality; the missing voice of the Spanish-speaking in the black-white dialogue; the concept of equality of educational opportunity for African Americans; and praises, criticism and comments for A Country of Strangers: Blacks and Whites in America.