The 25th annual University of Tennessee at Martin Civil Rights Conference continues with its third week, starting Monday, Feb. 17.
The UTM Civil Rights Conference celebrates Black History Month by bringing notable guest speakers and performers and highlighting campus talent in a public forum. In all, 13 events were scheduled for this year’s month-long conference. UT Martin in the only university in the United States to hold a month-long civil rights conference.
A program featuring guest speaker Michael Eric Dyson will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17, in Watkins Auditorium in the Boling University Center.
Dyson is a social justice activist and seven-time New York Times bestselling author. He has written 25 books and taught at some of the nation’s most distinguished universities. Also a Baptist minister, Dyson is a professor in the College of Arts and Science and in the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University. He has been a commentator for National Public Radio, MSNBC and CNN, and was a speaker at the 2018 funeral for Aretha Franklin.
Civil Rights Conference coordinator Dr. Henri Giles, assistant professor of African American studies, said last month that Dyson brings an eclectic background as a journalist, preacher, author and professor.
“He has written more than 20 books,” Giles said. “He has made his voice known on different networks and cable channels, speaking about issues that involve equity and justice and the issues that concern groups that have received inequitable treatment.
“Michael Eric Dyson is a truth-teller; he tells it like it is and does not pull any punches. We will be in for a treat to hear him. He has a poetic way of speaking sometimes when he draws comparisons or makes descriptions of things going on in our world.”
In other conference events in the coming week, the program “International Studies: Global Lessons for Understanding Each Other” will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19, in Watkins Auditorium. It will feature UT Martin scholars discussing the lessons that they learned about justice and equity while studying abroad.
Following that program, “Minorities in Meteorology,” a student-led discussion of career expectations and challenges for people of color in the field of meteorology, will begin at 7 p.m. in Watkins Auditorium. Sophomore meteorology major Christian Bryson of Jackson is organizing that program.The Weakley County Reconciliation Project will host “Honest Conversations” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, in Room 206 of the Boling University Center. The Weakley County Reconciliation Project is a nonpartisan community organization seeking to provide an open dialogue on matters of race and social injustice in Weakley County.
All programs are free and open to the public.
For more information about the Civil Rights Conference, visit www.utm.edu/visit-ut-martin/civil-rights.php.
