The Messenger 02.17.10
Civil Rights legend Dr. Bob Moses will keynote the University of Tennessee at Martin’s 10th annual Civil Rights Conference, “Civil Rights in the Age of Obama,” Saturday through Feb. 26.
“Bob Moses was the lead organizer for the civil rights movement in the most segregated state of the union, Mississippi, during the most turbulent period in the movement’s history, 1960-1965,” said Dr. David Barber, conference coordinator and UT Martin professor of history.
“Moses himself was beaten and threatened repeatedly in Mississippi, and a number of people with whom he worked were murdered in cold blood, including Herbert Lee, murdered by a Mississippi state senator, and 1964’s Freedom Summer civil rights murder victims Andrew Schwerner, Mickey Goodman and James Chaney,” Barber added. “Yet despite the extraordinary level of violence leveled against the movement, Moses unflinchingly led black Mississippians in the struggle for voting rights and freedom.”
Moses will speak at 7 p.m. Feb. 25 in Watkins Auditorium in Boling University Center. The UT Martin Collegiate Gospel Choir will perform before his address.
Grammy Award-winning musician Bill Miller will highlight Native American Civil Rights Day at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Watkins Auditorium. The doors will open at 5:50 p.m., with Elizabeth Cox, UT Martin dual-enrollment student, performing an original piece of music.
The Civil Rights Con-ference will open with African American History Month activities, sponsored by the Ken-Tenn Homecoming and Reunion Association and Community Forum, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday in the Tennessee Room at the McCombs Center.
A special event honoring African-American domestic workers, also sponsored by Ken-Tenn, will be held from 3-5 p.m. Sunday at the Harvey O. Vick Community Room in the South Fulton Municipal Building.
Two events will highlight Monday’s activities: a student rally for social justice at noon in the plaza between the university center and Paul Meek Library and a Black History Month Quiz Bowl in Watkins Auditorium at 7 p.m., sponsored by UT Martin’s National Association of Black Journalists chapter.
Tuesday, in addition to Miller’s talk and performance, Dr. Henry Parker, UT Martin professor of philosophy, UT Martin senior Karen Adams and other student participants will discuss “How the Lies of History Have Tarnished Our Moral Values” from 1-3 p.m. in Watkins Auditorium.
On Feb. 24, Brooke Haycock, playwright and actor, will perform from 1-3 p.m. Feb. 24 in Watkins Auditorium.
A series of events will mark conference activities on the conference’s main day, Feb. 25, taking place in Watkins Auditorium. From 9:30-10:45 a.m., Dr. Cynthia Fleming, UT Knoxville professor of history, will speak about “Civil Rights in the Age of Obama.” She is the author of the recently published “Yes We Can? From King’s Dream to Obama’s Promise.”
From 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m., Chude Allen and Karen Trusty will lead a discussion on “White Privilege and White Activism in the Struggle for Black Freedom.” Allen was one of the earliest organizers of the women’s liberation movement. Ms. Trusty was an exchange student at Spelman College in 1963 and became active in the sit-in movement in Atlanta.
She produced a film, “In Rarefied Air,” which documents her story. She was recently awarded a Martin Luther King “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the World Arts Foundation.
From 1-2:15 p.m., Dr. Vivian Carter, associate professor of sociology at Tuskegee University, will speak about “Racial Disparities in Health Care.” She is a member of the Service Core for the Tuskegee National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care.
From 2:30-3:45 p.m., Joyce Washington, T.D. Morris and Pete Algee will discuss “Local Civil Rights History: Fulton and South Fulton.”
Ms. Washington, Morris and Algee all attended a segregated school in South Fulton during the 1950s and early ’60s and were part of the pioneering generation of black students integrating previously all-white schools.
The conference will close at 7 p.m. Feb. 26 in Watkins Auditorium with a documentary film, “Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?” The film explores racial and socioeconomic inequalities in health.
For more information, a complete schedule or reservations, call (731) 881-7465 or e-mail Barber at dbarber@utm.edu. The conference schedule and a file of the schedule can be found at www.utm.edu/civilrights or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&ref=mf&gid=92875165374.