The spirit of author, composer, educator and civil rights pioneer James Weldon Johnson will infuse every aspect of the official March 25 launch of his namesake, Emory University's James Weldon Johnson Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies. Highlights of the event include the reading of a specially commissioned commemorative poem by Emory Pulitzer-prize winning poet Natasha Trethewey, a performance of some of Johnson’s musical arrangements and statements of support from author Alice Walker and others.
“This is our formal introduction to the Emory community and to the community beyond Emory,” says Calinda Lee, the Johnson Institute's assistant director for research and development.
The event will take place on Wednesday, March 25 at 4 p.m. in Cannon Chapel on the Emory Campus followed by a reception in Brooks Common. The event is free and open to the public.
"Our work is to provide a context to explain the ways in which the civil rights movement continues to have relevance,” says Rudolph Byrd, Goodrich C. White Professor of American Studies and the Johnson Institute’s founding director.
As a recent example, Byrd notes the inauguration of the nation’s first African American president as a key outcome of the modern civil rights movement. The first four resident scholars, who are already at work teaching and researching the origins, evolution, impact and legacy of the modern civil rights movement and its impact on other social movements, will be introduced as well.
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