At the River I Stand to be Screened at Halloran Centre as Part of MLK50
March 9, 2018 -The University of Memphis College of Communication and Fine Arts (CCFA) presents a special screening of At the River I Stand Saturday, March 31, at the Halloran Centre at the Orpheum, 203 South Main St. The host for the event will be Cornell Brooks, former president and CEO of the NAACP.
At the River I Stand is an award-winning documentary created by UofM Department of Communication professors David Appleby, Allison Graham and Steve Ross and chronicles the sanitation workers strike in Memphis and the two months leading to the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Admission is free, but an RSVP is required to reserve a seat. For more information, go to https://www.memphis.edu/ccfa/events/at_the_river.php or call 901.678.2565.
Event Schedule
3-5 p.m. – Screening and Panel Discussion
5-6 p.m. – Reception
About the Host
Rev. Cornell William Brooks is an activist, attorney and fourth-generation ordained minister. He currently serves
as visiting professor of Social Ethics, Law and Justice Movements with dual appointments
to Boston University School of Theology and Boston University School of Law. He previously
served as the 18th president and CEO of the NAACP, president and CEO of the New Jersey
Institute of Social Justice, and senior counsel, and special counsel and acting director
of the Office of Communication Business Opportunities of the Federal Communications
Commission. Early in his career, Brooks served as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department
of Justice, executive director of the Fair Housing Council of Greater Washington,
staff attorney for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, and judicial clerk for
Chief Judge Sam J. Ervin, III, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Rev.
Brooks is also a senior fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice; visiting fellow
at the Harvard Institute of Politics; visiting scholar, Yale Law School; and regular
contributor for CNN. He holds a BA from Jackson State University, an M.Div. from Boston
University School of Theology and JD from Yale Law School. He has also been awarded
several honorary doctorates.
Panelists
Rev. Harold Middlebrook was a member of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and directed the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Selma, Ala., office in 1965. In 1968,
he was assistant pastor to Benjamin Hooks and a member of Community on the Move for
Equality's strategy committee (COME). As a supporter of the striking workers, he was
instrumental in bringing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis.
Dorothy Crook has been with Local 1733 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) since 1969 and became its first female director in 1996. She successfully negotiated many contracts, including the City of Memphis' contract for a five percent wage increase—the first and only increase of that magnitude for city workers.
Otis Sanford holds the Hardin Chair of Excellence in Economic and Managerial Journalism at the University of Memphis, and is the author of the critically acclaimed book From Boss Crump to King Willie: How Race Changed Memphis Politics. Sanford serves as the political commentator for WREG-TV Channel 3 and is a panelist for Informed Sources, a weekly public affairs program on WREG. Sanford also writes a weekly Viewpoint column for The Commercial Appeal.
Edith Love is clergy chair for the Tennessee Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
The College of Communication and Fine Arts would like to thank the Department of Communication, the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media and the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change for their support of this event.
CONTACT
Kimberly Rogers l 901.678.4164 l krogers@memphis.edu