Ashby Dialogues


	NewsRelease

University News Service

P.O. Box 26170

Greensboro, NC 27402-6170

Telephone (336) 334-5371

Fax (336) 334-3418

(Posted 3-23-04)
Contact: Steve Gilliam, 336-334-5371

Programs Related to 1979 Klan-Nazi Shootings Continue April 6, 26

GREENSBORO – The Ashby Dialogues at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro will feature appearances by journalists April 6 and by a senior associate with the International Center for Transitional Justice April 29 in its series about the 1979 Klan-Nazi Shootings.

On Nov. 3, 1979, protestors with the Communist Workers Party, hoping to organize textile mill workers, gathered to march. However, in the African-American community where they assembled, the protest was disrupted by the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi members who began shooting into the crowd. Five people were killed and another 10 were wounded. Two criminal trials later brought not guilty verdicts.

This year’s Ashby Dialogue programs have the theme “Greensboro’s Hidden Legacy: The Impact of November 3, 1979, on the City Today.” Coordinated by UNCG’s departments of communication studies, sociology, religious studies and theatre, all events are free of charge and open to the public. The April events will be held 7-9 p.m. in the Alexander Room of Elliott University Center. They are:

April 6, media panel discussion by Jim Schlosser, columnist and award-winning writer with the News & Record of Greensboro, and Winston Cavin, an editor with the Raleigh News & Observer. Both Schlosser and Cavin covered the shootings, investigations and subsequent trials for the News & Record.

April 29, discussion of the Nov. 3 events by Lisa Magarrell, a senior associate with the New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice. She will discuss the work of the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project, and how its efforts compare to other truth and reconciliation efforts.

In the March 18 program, attorney Hal Greeson and veteran police officer Jim Balance discussed the shootings. Greeson, who has practiced law in Greensboro for 37 years, represented one of the Klansmen in the ensuing trial. Balance was among the officers who investigated the scene of the shooting.

The Ashby Dialogues were created to honor the late Dr. Warren Ashby, who died in 1985. They are planned to bring the community together for programs that embody Ashby’s belief that a university is “freedom in the search for and service of truth.” Ashby was chairman of the Department of Philosophy from 1949-68. He was director of the Honors Program on campus from 1966-69 and was director of the Residential College 1970-76, during its early years. He was acting head of the Department of Religious Studies 1976-78 and was a professor in the department from 1978 until his death.

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