The biennial Media & Civil Rights History Symposium welcomes scholars from various disciplines and approaches who address the vital relationship between civil rights and public communication from local/national/transnational contexts, perspectives and periods.
The symposium will include the presentations of the 2021 and 2023 Ronald T. and Gayla D. Farrar Awards.
Keynote Speaker
Jelani Cobb, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, journalist, historian and journalism school dean, will be the keynote speaker for the 2023 Media & Civil Rights History Symposium and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Research Symposium March 30-31.
The in-person event will be held at the Hilton Columbia Center, a hotel just a few blocks from the University.
More about the speaker and event »
Register Now
Conference registration is free. For those attending virtually, you will receive a link to each session upon registration.
Symposium Schedule At A Glance
Thursday, March 30, 2023
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Deans Breakfast (By Invitation Only)
8 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. The Hilton Columbia Center - “A Conversation with Dr. Jelani Cobb,” featuring select university student groups from local universities
2:00 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. – University of South Carolina, School of Journalism and Mass Communications Building, Room 318 - Reception (By Invitation Only)
5:30 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. -- The Hilton Columbia Center - Dinner and Keynote Address: Dr. Jelani Cobb, “The Half Life of Freedom, Race and Justice in America” (By Invitation Only)
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Friday, March 31 – The Hilton Columbia Center
- Panels and Research Paper Presentations (Concurrent)
8:30 – 11:15 a.m. - Joint M&CRHS and DEI Research & Symposium Luncheon and Panel Presentation
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Farrar Award Research Presentation
1:15 – 2:30 p.m. - Panel
2:45 – 3:45 p.m.
Detailed Symposium Schedule
8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Deans Breakfast (By Invitation Only) The Hilton Columbia Center
2:00 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
“A Conversation with Dr. Jelani Cobb,” featuring select university student groups from the University of South Carolina, University of North Carolina, and local HBCUs, and moderated by Dr. Kenneth Campbell, Chairman, Media & Civil Rights History Symposium
University of South Carolina, SJMC Building, Room 318
5:30 p.m. – 6:45 p.m.
Reception with Invited Guests
The Hilton Columbia Center
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Dinner and Keynote Address
The Hilton Columbia Center
Welcome by USC CIC Dean Tom Reichert. Keynote Speaker, Dr. Jelani Cobb, Topic: The
Half Life of Freedom, Race and Justice in America.”
8:30 a.m.–9:45 a.m.
Session 1: Research Papers
Moderator: Wesley Stevens, University of South Carolina
George L. Daniels, University of Alabama, Diversity Agitator, Activist and Academic: The Lee Barrow Story
Gwyneth Mellinger, James Madison University, Both Sides of the Story: The Framing of Emmett Till
Derek Charles Catsam, University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Let the Verbs and Adjectives Flow: White Resistance and Jackson’s Newspapers During the Ole Miss Integration Crisis
Kathleen Woodruff Wickham, University of Mississippi, Different Audiences, Different Coverage: The 1962 Integration of the University of Mississippi as Portrayed in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger and Four Black Newspapers
8:30 a.m.–9:45 a.m.
Session 2: Panel
“Recovering History, Enacting Equity, Transforming Experiences and Engaging the Community
Through Public Scholarship: The Virtual Martin Luther King Jr. Project”
Organizer and Moderator: Candice L. Edrington, University of South Carolina
Panelists
Victoria J. Gallagher, North Carolina State University
Max Renner, Molloy University
9:45 a.m.–10:00 a.m.
Mid-morning break
10 a.m.-11:15 a.m.
Session 3: Research Papers
Moderator: George Daniels, University of Alabama
Mary Potorti, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences University, Sustaining the Body, Sustaining the Nation: Selling Sustenance in the Nation of Islam’s Muhammad Speaks
Paul Anthony, Florida State University, The Long, Hot Summer: Racial Consensus and Alternative Media Among Churches of Christ in 1968
Lowndes F. (Rick) Stephens, University of South Carolina, Mining the Federal Reserve’s Triennial Surveys of Consumer Finances for News Narratives About Income and Wealth Inequality of Black and White American Households
Session 4: Panel
Black Art as Resistance: Explore the Role of Urban Artistic Practices in Today’s Civil
Rights Movement
Organizer and Moderator: Jabari Evans, University of South Carolina
Panelists:
Sherard Duvall, OTR Media Group, Columbia
Fitzgerald Wiggins, US Water Alliance, Providence, CA
Ija Charles, Palmetto Issues Conference, Columbia
11:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m. -- Break
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Session 5
Joint M&CRH Symposium and DEI Research & Symposium Luncheon and Panel Presentation.
Moderator, Tom Reichert, Dean, USC College of Information and Communications. Discussant, Raul Reis, Dean, UNC Hussman School of Media and Journalism. Session Topic: “Teaching Innovations and Best Practices for Inclusive Excellence.” Panelists: Trevy McDonald, UNC Associate Dean for Access, Belonging, Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity, Barbara Friedman, UNC Professor, Shirley Carter, CIC Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Kenneth Campbell, School of Journalism and Mass Communications Associate Professor.
2021 and 2023 Farrar Awards Recognition
1 p.m.–1:15 p.m. -- Break
1:15 p.m.–2:30 p.m.
Session 6: Research Papers
Farrar Award Research Presentation
2021 Ronald T. and Gayla D. Farrar Award in Media & Civil Rights History
Kathleen Wickham, University of Mississippi. “The Magnifying Effect of Television News: Civil Rights Coverage and Eyes on the Prize,” American Journalism (2020)
2023 Ronald T. and Gayla D. Farrar Award in Media & Civil Rights History
Say Burgin, Dickinson College. “The Trickbag [of] the Press”: SNCC, Print Media, and the Myth of an Antiwhite Black Power Movement,” Journal of Civil and Human Rights (2022)
2:30 p.m.-2:45 p.m.– Break
2:45 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Session 7: Panel
"Stories that Matter: A Conversation with Civil Rights Journalist and Documentarian
Steve Crump." Moderator, Bobby Donaldson, Center for Civil Rights History and Research
Also available on your own: Tour of USC Hollings Center, Anne Frank Center, SJMC Building
6 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Community Event
“The Virtual Martin Luther King Jr. Project”
Brookland Baptist Church, West Columbia, S.C.
Organizer and Facilitator: Candice L. Edrington, University of South Carolina
Contact Us
Dr. Kenneth Campbell
Media & Civil Rights History Symposium
School of Journalism and Mass Communications
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
Email: kcampbell@sc.edu