UofM's Hooks Institute National Book Award Recipient Will Present Lecture and Book Signing on Stokely Carmichael

January 20, 2016 - In the 1960s, Civil Rights activist Stokely Carmichael coined the phrase "Black Power" with the symbolic image of the raised black fist to embody it. A charismatic, forceful, young and brilliant intellectual with civil rights rooted in non-violent tactics, Carmichael became increasingly dissatisfied with racial inequality. This led him to more militant approaches to achieve political self-determination for African Americans. The book, Stokely: A Life, winner of the 2014 Benjamin L. Hooks Institute National Book Award, provides an illuminating profile of Carmichael's journey of disappointments, conflict and hope for a more just nation and world.

The Hooks Institute's annual National Book Award recognizes publications that best advance an understanding of the American civil rights movement and its legacy. Stokely: A Life, was selected from more than 20 books that were published in 2014.

Author Dr. Peniel E. Joseph will discuss Carmichael's life at a lecture, lunch and book signing at the University of Memphis on Thursday, Feb. 11, as part of the Hooks Institute Lecture Series. The lecture and lunch will begin at 11 a.m. in the University Center's River Room (room 300). The event is free and open to the public. Copies of Stokely: A Life may be purchased at the lecture for signing by the author. Parking will be available in the Zach Curlin garage.

Joseph is professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of the award-winning Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America and Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to Barack Obama, as well as editor of The Black Power Movement: Rethinking the Civil Rights-Black Power Era and Neighborhood Rebels: Black Power at the Local Level. He is a frequent national commentator on issues of race, democracy and civil rights.

Joseph's appearance is co-sponsored by the Department of History, the Department of Social Work, the Marcus W. Orr Center for the Humanities and the Graduate Association for African-American History.

In 1996, University of Memphis officials received approval from the Tennessee Board of Regents to create the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change in the College of Arts & Sciences. The mission of the Institute is teaching, studying and promoting civil rights and social change. The Hooks Institute archives include Hooks' personal papers, which are housed in the Mississippi Valley Collection in the University's McWherter Library. To learn more about the Hooks Institute, visit memphis.edu/benhooks.

Contact: Daphene McFerren
901.678.3974