2023 Events
Upcoming Events
Stay tuned for news and updates on upcoming Hooks Institute events! Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise stated.
February 25
Book Signing with Robert Hamburger, Author of Our Portion of Hell: Fayette County, Tennessee: An Oral History of the Struggle for
Civil Rights
Saturaday, February 25, 2 PM
Fayette County Public Schools Central Administration Building 10425 Hwy 76 S. Somerville, TN, 38068
Book Signing with Robert Hamburger | Presentations from Robert Hamburger and Daphene McFerren, Hooks Institute executive director and daughter of Fayette County Civil Rights Activists John and Viola McFerren, will speak at the event.
Activists from the Fayette County Civil Rights Movement will also attend.
About Our Portion of Hell: Fayette County, Tennessee: An Oral History of the Struggle
for Civil Rights
Recently released by the University of Mississippi Press for its second edition, Our
Portion of Hell: Fayette County, Tennessee: An Oral History of the Struggle for Civil
Rights offers an unrivalled account of how the rural Black community of Fayette County,
Tennessee drew together to combat the immense forces aligned against them in the late
1950s-1970s. Author Robert Hamburger first visited Fayette County as part of a student
civil rights project in 1965 and, in 1971, set out to document the history of the
grassroots movement there.
Author Robert Hamburger has graciously donated the first $50,000 of proceeds from the sales of the second edition of “Our Portion of Hell” go directly to the Hooks Institute. Books will be available for purchase at the event.