Doctor Honoris Causa Acceptance Speech, University of Caen, 2007

It is with deep appreciation and humility that I accept this great honor, the Doctor Honoris Causa, from the historic and triumphant University of Caen. I regret that I cannot be with you in person to accept this degree, and thank my dear friend and colleague, Alice Mills, for saying a few words of thanks for me.To be honored by an esteemed French university for the work that I have done in the field of African American literature goes far beyond what I would have imagined for myself in 1975,...