Ken Vickery

Activist, Athlete, Educator/Teacher, Environmentalist, Explorer, Parent, Photographer, World traveler, Writer/Editor

born Washington D.C. raised in Virginia BA magna cum laude, honors in history, Duke University 1970 PhD in African history, Yale University 1978 Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor, North Carolina State University Author of BLACK AND WHITE IN SOUTHERN ZAMBIA (1986) Co-editor and contributor, THE TONGA-SPEAKING PEOPLES OF ZAMBIA AND ZIMBABWE (2007) Creator of The Teaching Company lecture series, "THE AFRICAN EXPERIENCE: FROM 'LUCY' TO MANDELA (2006)

Africa! And its history. Also, politics, the environment, canoeing, rivers, mountains, sports, tennis.

Africa defies the stereotypes often applied to it. It is a gigantic place with astonishing diversity. It has not been in the past, and certainly is not today, the "hopeless case" we are often presented in the western media. Take the time to learn more about it--you will not be disappointed!

Africa, rock, sports

Though I had known of TED and the annual conferences, I had not been a member nor attended until TEDGlobal in Tanzania, June 2007. Chris Anderson had listened to the lecture series on African history for The Teaching Company, and when a speaker dropped out he asked me to speak at the meeting. I tried to present instances from the African past which might echo the current sense of POSSIBILITY, of HOPE, that many sense in the continent today. The whole conference was an incredible experience, and made me glad that I had chosen to become a scholar and teacher of African history years ago.

open-boat whitewater canoeing, photography, tennis