Keisha Blain, scholar and co-editor of “The Charleston Syllabus,” will speak at Iowa State at 7 p.m. Monday in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

The event is sponsored by the African and African Studies Program and the Committee on Lectures.

Blain will discuss her recently published overview of race relations, racial violence and civil rights activism in the United States and other parts of the world and how it correlates with the church shooting in June 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine lives were lost at the historically black church of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Brian Behnken, associate professor of history at Iowa State, is intrigued by the lecture and is excited for it to come to Iowa State.

“Understanding how intellectuals and concerned citizens respond to and correct racial violence — from mass murder to police murder — is beneficial for all people, not just black folks and not just during Black History Month,” Behnken said.

Behnken believes that lectures like Blain’s are beneficial not only for faculty but also for students. The lecture can lead to meaningful changes, better understanding of race relations, better understanding of each other and the creation of a better society.

“Blain is one of the individuals who can help us get to that greater understanding, and I would encourage ISU students, faculty and staff to hear what she has to say,” Behnken said.