Bakari Sellers will speak at the Distinguish Seeker Speakers Series. Submitted Photo/UNCP
By: Victor Mays, Reporter
GPAC will host Bakari Sellers this month as a part of the Distinguish Speakers Series. He is the former South Carolina representative for the 90th district.
The Distinguish Speaker Series allows students to participate in discussions with speakers who are invited to the campus. These discussions vary from cultural, political and social importance.
About Sellers…
Sellers held a position in the lower house of the state legislature from 2006 to 2014, making him the youngest African American elected official in the country. Sellers was 22 years old. In 2014 Sellers was able to win the democratic nomination for Lt. Governor in South Carolina.
He is known as the leading voice in his generation and a rising star in the democratic party. Sellers comes from a family of activists. His father, Dr. Cleveland Sellers was a civil rights leader who raised certain issues such as education and poverty as well as domestic violence and childhood obesity.
Bakari Sellers earned his undergraduate degree at Morehouse college. However he did not stop there. Sellers went on to get his law degree from the University of South Carolina. Sellers practiced law at Strom Law Firm, LLC in Columbia South Carolina. He leads the firm’s public affairs and strategic communications team.
Books Published…
Bakari Sellers is a best-selling author with his book “My Vanishing Country: A Memoir.” This book discusses the lives of the forgotten black working class men and women. Sellers’s most recent
published book is “Who Are Your People.” The book is about paying tribute to your family and community, who are the ones who help shape them into the people they become. The book takes on the phrase of “…it takes a village to raise a child.”
Sellers also has his own podcast called The Bakari Sellers Podcast. This podcast runs twice a week and addresses many issues such as race and politics as well as engaging conversations about sports and the media.
Sellers has many other accomplishments such as serving on former President Barack Obama’s South Carolina steering committee during the 2008 presidential election. In 2014, he wa named to as The Root 100’s most influential African-Americans. He was also named Time Magazines “40 under 40’ in 2010. Sellers has worked for many news outlets including being a contributor to CNN. He provides social and political commentary and analysis for those major outlets.
Sellers married Ellen Rucker Carter in 2015. Ellen is a chiropractor and has her own line of hair care products called Rucker Roots. Sellers has two children that are twins. Sellers also has a niece on the soccer team at UNCP.