“Spotlight on Lifelong Learning” with Laura Loth, a weekly look at some of the exciting public conversations upcoming around Memphis. Laura Loth is a professor at Rhodes College.
I want to bring your attention to two opportunities this week to think about questions of land, home, race, and power, both on Thursday, February 27 . First, at 4pm at the University of Memphis , Professor Bradley Dixon will offer a talk about political encounters between Native American nations and Spanish and English colonizers in the early American South. As Native Americans resisted European policies, they gave rise to powerful, independent Native nations that would exist well into the 18th century, and shape the legal and political systems of the early Southeast.
At 6pm, head downtown to the National Civil Rights Museum to hear Candacy Taylor present her book The Overground Railroad. Hers is the first book to explore the historical role and residual impact of the Green Book, a travel guide for black motorists that was published from 1936 to 1966. At that time, black travelers couldn’t eat, sleep, or buy gas at most white-owned businesses. It took courage for black business owners to be listed in the Green Book, and Taylor’s research celebrates the stories of those who put their names down and stood up against segregation. This remarkable study broadens our understanding of black life, leisure, and struggles for equality in 20th –Century America, and reminds us of how far we still have to go in 21st Century America.
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For more ideas about public programs upcoming in Memphis, visit WKNOSpotlight.com where you will find a list of lectures and book talks happening around town. Spotlight on Lifelong Learning is a partnership between Rhodes College and WKNO-FM.