By Dan Nonte, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-4314
Posted 2-12-08
Gene Roberts.
GREENSBORO - Veteran journalist Gene Roberts, co-author of the Pulitzer Prize winning “Race Beat,” will be the featured speaker at the Friends of the UNCG Libraries Annual Dinner on Wednesday, April 16.
“The Race Beat: The Press, The Civil Rights Struggle, and The Awakening of a Nation,” won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for History. It tells the story of how the press helped America recognize its race problem after WWII: the indignities and injustices of segregation in the South, and the brutality used to enforce it.
A reception, followed by a seated dinner in Elliott University Center’s Cone Ballroom, will start at 6 p.m. The program, also in Cone Ballroom, will begin at 8 p.m. Following the program, Roberts will sign copies of his book, which will be available for purchase.
Tickets for the dinner and program are $35 for Friends of the UNCG Libraries and $45 for non-members. Dinner tickets must be reserved by April 9. Tickets for the program only are $10. Tickets are available from the UNCG Box Office, (336) 334-4849. Table sponsorships are available by calling Nate Olawsky, (336) 334-5372. All proceeds benefit the University Libraries.
Roberts and “Race Beat” co-author Hank Klibanoff drew on private correspondence, unpublished articles, notes from secret meetings, and interviews as well as examining the published editorials, news stories and photographs of the era.
Newsweek said, “‘The Race Beat’ has good characters, good yarns and good thinking. Just as important, though, it’s got a good heart.” The Nation described it as “one of those remarkable works of history that make you see your own times more clearly.”
Born in Goldsboro, Roberts is now a journalism professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. He was a reporter with the Goldsboro News-Argus and The Virginian- Pilot, and a reporter and editor with The News & Observer and the Detroit Free Press before joining The New York Times in 1965, where until 1972 he served as chief southern and Civil Rights correspondent, chief war correspondent in South Vietnam, and national editor.
During his 18 years as executive editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the paper won 17 Pulitzer Prizes. He later became the managing editor of The New York Times. He has covered some of the most important events of the 20th century: the assassination of President Kennedy, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War.
A resident of New York, he holds two honorary doctorates and has received several national journalism awards for lifetime achievement.
