John McWhorter, will speak on “The Power of Language: What are people hearing when we speak?” from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, July 21 at the Jewish Federation building, 12 Millstone Campus Drive. The program is part of the JProStl Power of Difference Series and is targeted to staff who work at Jewish organizations throughout the Jewish community.  

McWhorter is associate professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and previously was Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkley. His TEDTalk, “Txting is Killing Language,” has been viewed by more than 1.7 million people. 

McWhorter has written numerous books on language and race and is a contributing editor at The New Republic and has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Time and The New Yorker. Frequently sought after by the media, McWhorter has appeared on “Dateline NBC,” “Politically Incorrect,” “Talk of the Nation,” “Today,” “Good Morning America,” “The Jim Lehrer NewsHour,” “Up with Chris Hayes” and “Fresh Air.”  He is the son-in-law of Bob and Zelda Sparks of St. Louis.

Box lunches can be purchased in advance. RSVP with Marci Mayer Eisen at the Jewish Federation of St. Louis at [email protected] or 314-442-3810. 

An initiative of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, JProStl is a professional association for staff who work at more than 50 nonprofit organizations within the St. Louis Jewish community and supported by the Lubin-Green Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, Mont & Karen Levy and Bill Solomon and family.