The University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma will host "Killers of the Flower Moon" bestselling author David Grann alongside lawyer, author and consultant Hannibal B. Johnson as the keynote speakers for the 2023 Giles Symposium on Citizenship and Public Service.

Grann, a National Book Award finalist, is known for writing the true crime tale surrounding the multiple murders of Osage tribal members with rich oil reserves on their land. 

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Johnson is an attorney and consultant specializing in diversity, equity, inclusion and cultural competence issues, as well as human relations, leadership and non-profit management. Having taught at the University of Tulsa College of Law, Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma, Johnson currently serves on the 400 Years of African-American History Commission, a federal body charged with planning developing and implementing activities appropriate to the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Africans in the English colonies in 1619.

Johnson also chairs the education committee for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission. Johnson has authored ten books, many focusing on African American history in Oklahoma, including “Black Wall Street – From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District,” “Acres for Aspiration – The All-Black Towns in Oklahoma” and the play “Big Mama Speaks – A Tulsa Race Riot Survivor’s Story.”