By Jill Yesko, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 9-2-08
"African American Woman: Columbia, South Carolina, March 1, 1904." By Julian Dimock.
GREENSBORO, NC – A symposium exploring the connections between race and history will be held Friday and Saturday, Sept. 19-20.
The event, which is open to the public at no charge, aims to expand the discussion about race as depicted through film, photography, exhibitions and public discourse.
All events take place in the auditorium of the Weatherspoon Art Museum. Free parking is available at the museum.
Events include:
• Friday, Sept. 19, 7 p.m.: Showing of “FBI-KKK.” Dr. Michael Frierson, associate professor of Broadcasting and Cinema at UNCG, presents a personal documentary about his father, Dargan Frierson, an FBI agent in Greensboro and his relationship with George Franklin Dorsett, the Grand Kludd of the United Klans of America. In the 1960s, Dorsett became one of the FBI’s highest ranking paid informants who secretly provided information about the Klan under the FBI’s COINTELPRO: White Hate program.
• Saturday, Sept. 20, 12 p.m.: Photography Across the Color Line the Jim Crow South: The Early Photojournalism of Anthony and Julian Dimock. Dr. George Dimock, associate professor of Art History at UNCG, presents a personal view of race through the photojournalism of Anthony and Julian Dimock, family members who documented working class African Americans in Columbia and Beaufort South Carolina at the turn of the 20th century.
• Saturday, Sept. 20, 1:15 p.m.: Personal Stories of Social Change in Greensboro. Led by Dr. Spoma Jovanovic, associate professor of communication studies at UNCG. Panel discussion focusing on how grassroots organizers communicate to evoke change when confronted with the legacy of racism. Panel includes Dr. Claude Barnes, associate professor of Political Science at NC A&T State; Signe Waller, survivor of the 1979 “Death to the Klan Rally” and author of “Love and Revolution”; and Fahiym Hanna, organizer with Greensboro’s Raise the Minimum Wage Campaign.
• Saturday, Sept. 20, 3 p.m.: Making Race Personal in Public History. Panel discussion on how public history venues such as museums and library often struggle to engage public audiences in the “tough stuff” of history. Participants include: Amelia Parker, executive director of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro, Rodney C. Roberts, professor of philosophy at East Carolina University and board member of the Somerset Place Plantation, and Dr. Benjamin Filene, director of UNCG’s public history program.
• Saturday, Sept. 20, 4:15 p.m.: Informal conclusions lead by Frierson, Dimock, Jovanovic, and Filene.
For more information, visit the Center for Critical Inquiry at www.uncg.edu/cci
