Trinidadian Roots CNN Anchor To Deliver Eric Williams Memorial Lecture

News Americas, New York, NY, March 17, 2025: Award-winning journalist and CNN anchor, Abby Phillip, who proudly traces her roots to Trinidad and Tobago, will deliver the 23rd Eric E. Williams Memorial Lecture on Friday, March 28, 2025, at the University of Texas, Austin (UT). The event, hosted at the AT&T Conference Center, will begin with a reception at 6:15 p.m. (EST), followed by the lecture at 7:15 p.m., and will be free and open to the public. A live-stream will be available, with post-lecture viewing accessible via the UT Warfield Center’s YouTube channel.

FLASHBACK: Trinidad roots CNN White House correspondent Abby Phillip arrives on stage to moderate the seventh Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by CNN and the Des Moines Register at the Drake University campus in Des Moines, Iowa on January 14, 2020. (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)

Phillip, the anchor of NewsNight with Abby Phillip on CNN, is known for her sharp, fact-driven approach to journalism. With a background in Washington political reporting, she is recognized for her ability to hold powerful figures accountable and provide nuanced analysis of current affairs.

“As a renowned journalist, Abby Phillip was a natural choice to give the Eric Williams Memorial Lecture,” said Dr. Jennifer Wilks, Director of the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies at UT. “Williams’ legacy includes a series of public lectures in Woodford Square, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, which he called his ‘University.’ Phillip’s commitment to keeping the public informed reflects that same tradition of engagement.”

The lecture, first established in 1999 at Florida International University (FIU) before relocating to UT Austin in 2021, honors Dr. Eric Williams, Trinidad and Tobago’s first Prime Minister and a pioneering historian. His groundbreaking book, Capitalism and Slavery, published in 1944, reshaped the historical understanding of the British Transatlantic Slave Trade and its economic impact on Britain and America. The book, commonly known as The Williams Thesis, argues that the declining profitability of slavery—rather than humanitarianism—led to its abolition. Still widely studied, it has been translated into nine languages, with German and Dutch editions forthcoming.

Williams led Trinidad and Tobago to independence in 1962 and later to Republican status in 1976, serving as the nation’s leader until his passing in 1981. His contributions to Caribbean history, politics, and education remain a defining part of the region’s legacy.

The Eric Williams Memorial Lecture has previously featured distinguished speakers, including:

Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados

Portia Simpson-Miller, former Prime Minister of Jamaica

Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Dr. Angela Davis, activist and scholar

Dr. Carol Anderson, author of White Rage

This year’s event is co-sponsored by UT’s Center for Global Change and Media, LLILAS Caribbean Studies Initiative, and School of Journalism and Media, along with contributions from Mr. & Mrs. Leroy Lashley and Jerry Nagee. It is also supported by The Eric Williams Memorial Collection Research Library, Archives & Museum at The University of the West Indies (UWI, Trinidad and Tobago), which was designated to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 1999.

Books by and about Dr. Eric Williams will be available for purchase at the event.