2019 Events
About Hooks Events
Protecting and promoting civil rights and social justice requires vigilance by each of us. The Hooks Institute hopes you will stay engaged with and connected to efforts to promote a just, fair and democratic society. We encourage you to join us at our public events.
Click here to view upcoming and past Hooks African American Male Initiative events.
Spring 2019 Events
January 31, 2019
Hooks National Book Award Presentation and Lecture Featuring James Forman, Jr.
Thursday, January 31, 2019 | Reception 5:30 p.m. | Lecture 6 p.m.
University Center Theatre University of Memphis
Presenting Sponsor: Just City
Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman Jr. was selected as the winner for the 2017 National Book Award. In his book, Forman argues that America’s draconian sentences for drug crimes were created not only by whites but also inadvertently by exasperated African American leaders whose communities were facing an unprecedented drug epidemic starting in the late 1960s. Forman encourages a candid examination of this history to tackle criminal justice reform.
Sponsors: UofM African and African American Studies, UofM Black Law Students Association, UofM Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, UofM Department of Anthropology, UofM Department of History, UofM Marcus W. Orr Center for the Humanities, UofM Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.
The University of Memphis, 499 University St., Memphis, TN 38152. Convenient parking is located at the public parking garage on Zach Curlin.
March 21, 2019
The Wives of the 1968 Sanitation Workers Strike
Thursday, March 21, 2019 | Reception 5:30 p.m. | Program 6 p.m. | University Center River Room (300)
Join the Hooks Institute for this special event to hear first-hand stories of courage and survival from the women of the 1968 Sanitation Workers Strike. The evening will feature select excerpts from the national, video web series “1300 Men: Memphis Strike ’68,” produced by Striking Voices for TheRoot.com, as well as a panel of wives and children of 1968 strikers, moderated by journalist and Striking Voices founding producer Emily Yellin.