Hickory – Join us at Patrick Beaver Memorial Library on Thursday, January 16, at 6:30 p.m. for the presentation of the program “Through a Local Lens: A History of the Development of the Modern Civil Rights Movement.” The presenter of the program is Dr. Willie Griffin, the Historian for Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte. This program is provided in partnership with Hickory Community Theatre in preparation for their presentation of A Raisin in the Sun.

“Through A Local Lens: A History of the Development of the Modern Civil Rights Movement” is a presentation on the development of the modern Civil Rights Movement that takes audiences through the struggles and accomplishments by black Americans in the Piedmont region including a discussion of:

· Access to equal citizenship rights from the era emergence of the Modern Welfare State in the 1930s to the current era of Black Lives Matter;

· Expansions through the era of the Great Depression, the New Deal, the Black Awakening of 1920s and 1930s, and World War II; and progression from the televised Civil Rights Movement of 1950 and 1960s to Black Lives Matter.

Dr. Willie Griffin is a civil rights scholar, educator and Charlotte native. He recently served as Assistant Professor of African American History at The Citadel. He holds a doctorate in U.S. history from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he produced a groundbreaking biography of Trezzvant W. Anderson, an unsung Charlotte native, journalist and remarkable national civil rights figure. Griffin also holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in history and African American studies from Morgan State University and Morehouse College respectively.

A Raisin in the Sun will be presented at Hickory Community Theatre’s Jeffers Theatre from January 31 to February 16, 2020. Tickets for this production are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors, and $10 for youth and students. Thursday performance tickets are available to adults and seniors for $14. Tickets may be purchased online at hickorytheatre.org or by calling 828-328-2283.

For more information, call 828-304-0500. Patrick Beaver Memorial Library is located at 375 3rd Street NE on the SALT Block. All library programs are free and open to the public.
Dr. Willie Griffin