50 YEARS POST-MLK: MEDIA, THE MAGIC CITY, AND HOW THE SOUTH WAS WON

SPONSORED BY PEN AMERICA

Wednesday, April 4, 2018 from 6-8pm in Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Community Room

In this panel discussion, writer/thinker Kiese Laymon and poet Jacqueline Trimble will discuss the role the media has played in the representation or misrepresentation of Birmingham and the American South and the progress (or lack thereof) we've made. The media had a lot to do with the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1965 because of the national coverage of the Birmingham Campaign of the Civil Rights Movement, but that same media has either held the South in suspended animation. That is, we are either shown as backwards and rigidly conservative or, in the case of Birmingham, we are shown as a beacon of completion as it relates to the Civil Rights struggle. How can the South navigate these misrepresentations to make way for real progress, and how can it serve as an example or a radar for the US’ progress at large?

This panel took place on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and it will serve as a commemoration of this tragic moment in American history. 

The panel discussion was made possible through a grant from PEN America’s Press Freedom Incentive Fund, which supports projects that underscore the vitality of journalism through the impact it has on a range of local issues.

We are especially grateful to Kyle Dacuyan (who is now heading up The Poetry Project) for his support, encouragement, and the beautiful spirit which made this collaboration possible.

For more from this event, visit this incredible image gallery curated by PEN America.