During this gathering, the IFAJS will bring the leaders of some of the nation’s most
prominent civil rights groups to the university’s
campus for a series of meetings with black journalists, university faculty,
students and the general community. The civil rights leaders who have confirmed their participation in the event are: Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League; Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Ted Shaw, director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Barbara Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
This year’s conference, whose theme is “Beyond Rosa Parks: Civil Rights in the 21st Century,” will be held in the campus’s new Alumni-Foundation Event Center. The four civil rights leaders will discuss the future of the civil rights movement in a forum at 7 – 9 pm, on Friday, April 21, that is free and open to the public.
“ This gathering of civil rights leaders will give A&T students and others a front-row seat to history. Too often discussions of such important topics occur in some distant place and we have to rely upon news reports to tell us what was said. This time our students, faculty and members of the community have a chance to witness history in the making,” IFAJS Director DeWayne Wickham said.
The IFAJS’ programs are designed to improve the number of blacks working in the journalism profession and to enhance the flow of news and information about black issues to a broad cross section of Americans. It also offers several programs that give students a chance to gain practical newsgathering and writing experience, and interaction with broadcast and print journalists.
“ At the beginning of the last century, W.E.B. DuBois wrote ‘the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.’ This nation has made dramatic improvements in race relations since then. But there is still much that needs to be done to ensure that everyone has a fair chance to realize the American dream,” Wickham said.
For more information, contact Terri Long at 336-256-2261.