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¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ’s Howard College of Arts and Sciences will hold a symposium on the subject of “Where do we go from here? Martin Luther King Jr., Race, and America’s Future” April 16-17. The event–the inaugural ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ Stockham Symposium on Western Ideas and Institutions–will present a plenary address by 16th Street Baptist Church pastor Arthur Price and panel discussions featuring ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ faculty and distinguished guests from Birmingham-area institutions, including:

Jonathan Bass, ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ History Department chair and author of Blessed Are the Peacemakers and He Calls Me By Lightning: The Life of Caliph Washington and the Forgotten Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty

Teresa Davidson, ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ associate professor of sociology

, professor history, University of Montevallo

Tondra Loder-Jackson, associate professor, Educational Foundations/ African American Studies, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Arthur Price, Pastor, 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Ala.

LeeAnn Reynolds, ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ associate professor of history and author of .

Jennifer Speights-Binet, ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ Geography Department chair

¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ history professor Jason Wallace, Stockham Chair of Western Intellectual History, is organizing the event in response to ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ president Andrew Westmoreland’s charge for the university to seriously engage with issues of race. “This symposium is a small attempt to offer such engagement,” Wallace said.

Wallace, who also leads the university’s Core Texts Program, also said that although Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail has long been used extensively in the university’s core classes, starting this fall it will be a required text for all 900+ ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ freshmen.

“To mark the introduction of this text as a requirement, as well as the somber occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination, the Stockham Symposium is initiating this conversation about his legacy, race, and America’s future,” Wallace said.

Symposium Schedule

All events will be held in Brooks Hall Auditorium (room 134)

Monday April 16

3– 4:30 p.m.                   Panel Discussion

7 p.m.                             Plenary Speaker: The Rev. Arthur Price

Tuesday April 17

3 – 4 PM                    Student-Led Panel Discussion

 

To learn more contact wjwallac@samford.edu