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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Development of black identity in the United States before and after the 1950s will be explored in an April 20 presentation at Oregon State University by William Cross, Jr.

The lecture, "Theory and Research on Black Identity Before and After the 1954 Brown Decision on School Desegregation," is set for 7:30 p.m. in OSU's LaSells Stewart Center, at 26th Street and Western Boulevard. It is free and open to the public.

Cross is the author of the "Shades of Black: Diversity in African-American Identity." His theories on identity development have been the focus of numerous essays and studies. Although his work focuses on African-American experiences, it has influenced scholars researching Jewish identity, Asian-American identity, white ethnic-group identity, Latina and Latino identity, and gay and lesbian identity.

Cross has been on the faculty of Cornell University, Penn State University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is professor and head of the doctoral program in social-personality psychology at the Graduate Center for the City University of New York and he is part of the African American Studies Certificate Program.

The event is sponsored by OSU's Convocations and Lectures Committee. The committee sponsors three to four major speakers at OSU each year to broaden the intellectual and spiritual knowledge of the community. In the past the committee has brought such speakers as Doris Kearns Goodwin, Michael Moore, Ray Suarez, Linda Wertheimer, Grace Paley, Winona LaDuke and Anita Hill to Corvallis.