Speakers scheduled for Black History Month at VCU

By Tom Gresham

Two integral leaders of the civil rights movement and the author of a novel about school integration will be featured lecturers at Virginia Commonwealth University in February during Black History Month.  

Wyatt Tee Walker and Tony Brown, who both played roles in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and Judge Julian Houston, an associate justice of the Superior Court of Massachusetts and author of the young-adult novel, “New Boy,” will each appear at VCU during the month for lectures that are free and open to the public.

Walker, former executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, will discuss “The Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Role of the Press in the Civil Rights Movement,” at 11 a.m. on Feb. 9 in the Commonwealth Ballrooms on the second floor of University Student Commons at 907 Floyd Avenue.

Walker was King’s friend and adviser during the civil rights movement and experienced firsthand many of the most stirring moments of the era, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott and King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C. Walker also served as a press liaison for civil rights leaders.

Houston, who was born in Richmond, will visit VCU to discuss “New Boy,” a semi-autobiographical novel about school integration in the 1950s. Houston will speak on Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts at 922 Park Avenue. A book signing and reception will follow the lecture.

“New Boy” examines the experiences of a black student at a fictional boarding school in Connecticut. The student struggles with his status as the only black student in the school, while watching the civil rights movement unfold and wondering what part he will play in it. James Carroll called the book “a fine and moving novel.”

Brown, the host of “Tony Brown’s Journal” on PBS, will discuss his latest book, “Empower the People,” on Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the Richmond Salons at University Student Commons at 907 Floyd Avenue. A book signing and reception will follow.

Brown, the first dean of the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communication at Hampton University, was an active figure in the civil rights movement, organizing the massive “Walk to Freedom” in Detroit in 1963. “Empower the People,” his third and most recent book, reveals Brown’s seven-point plan to fight back against the “very real conspiracy that controls our government, steals our income and usurps our freedom.”