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JERSEY CITY, N.J. |  (NJCU) Professor of Women's & Gender Studies Dr. Antoinette Ellis-Williams will celebrate the launch of her new book "Justice & Divinity: An African American Liturgy" with a special evening of readings, performance, and art at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) on Thursday, October 23, 2025, at 7:00 p.m.

The event, taking place in NJPAC's Chase Room (1 Center Street, Newark, N.J. 07102), will showcase Dr. Ellis-Williams' latest work—an extraordinary exploration of the dignity, grace, resistance, and faith of Black people. Drawing from African American sacred liturgical tradition, "Justice & Divinity" expands pathways for voice through prose, lyrics, call and response, praise and worship, homily, and poetry.

The evening will feature a musical performance with acclaimed musicians David Caines Burnett (violin), Andrew Darling (vocals), Kakuyon Shakur (trumpet), and Junius Williams (harmonica), followed by an engaging conversation between Dr. Ellis-Williams and Danny Simmons—author, poet, philanthropist, and co-creator of Def Poetry Jam. The conversation will be moderated by Lauren LeBeaux Craig, Executive Director of Newark Arts.

Signed copies of the book and original artwork by Dr. Ellis-Williams will be available for purchase, with 10% of proceeds benefiting Women@NJPAC.

Dr. Ellis-Williams has served as a faculty member at NJCU in the Department of Gender, Africana, and Latin American Studies since September, 1996. She is a Jamaican-born, multi-media interdisciplinary abstract contemporary artist, playwright, scholar, and poet whose work appears in public and private collections nationwide, including Newark Airport Terminal A. Her public art and exhibitions have been featured at the Newark Museum of Art, NJ State Museum, and alongside artist John "Femi" Johnson at the Jazz Gallery NYC. Renowned artist and curator Danny Simmons has praised her work as reflecting "free form Jazz found in little hip off beat jazz clubs where one went late at night to be transported to new places to new sounds to new visual languages."

In addition to her artistic practice, Dr. Ellis-Williams teaches courses on Black Womanhood; Diversity & Difference; Women's Lives; Women & Leadership; Women, Hip-Hop & Social Change; Urban Men of Color; and Race, Class, Gender Activism at NJCU. She earned her Ph.D. in Public Policy & Urban and Regional Planning from Cornell University and serves on the board of trustees for the New Jersey Institute of Social Justice.

The event is free and open to the public. To RSVP, visit:

For more information about Dr. Ellis-Williams and her work, visit

ÃÛÌÒtv NJCU: 
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Contact: 
Ira Thor, Associate Vice President for University Communications and Marketing | ithor@njcu.edu | 201-200-3301