Registration is not required for the Thursday session.

Registration is required for the 2025 symposium Friday sessions.
Register for the Friday sessions »

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Thursday, March 27, 2025

Allen University, Chappelle Auditorium
1530 Harden Street, Columbia, SC 29204

6:30 – 8 p.m. –  Chappelle Auditorium, Allen University
Community Event featuring columnist and political commentator Michael Harriot, author of New York Times bestselling book Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America  

• Welcome -- Allen University
• Michael Harriot Introduction -- Bobby Donaldson, Executive Director, USC Center for Civil Rights History and Research
• Conversation with Michael Harriot, moderated by Damion Waymer, Director, USC  School of Journalism and Mass Communications 

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Register for the Friday sessions »

Friday, March 28, 2025

USC Columbia, School of Journalism & Mass Communications
800 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29208                              

8:45 a.m. – Refreshments

9 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. – SJMC Room 225

Session 1: Research Paper Session

Race in Media: Different Eras, Different Perspectives
Presiding: Bryan Jenkins, South Carolina

Supporting Scholastic Journalism in an Era of Segregation: The Story of Lincoln University’s High School Outreach, George L. Daniels, Alabama

 “One Day, One Family, One Slum”: A Post-Kerner Case Study, Gwyneth Mellinger, James Madison and Erin Coyle, Temple

Research-in-Progress
Beyond Commemoration to Reparations: The Afolabi, Tulsa, and Elaine Race Massacre, Oyeronke Oyinda, Arkansas State  

Invited Presentation
"Don't Talk About Me If I'm Not At The Table: The Media, Religion, and the Future of African American Youth," Lekena Ackerman, Southeast Middle School, Columbia, S.C.

Discussant: Sid Bedingfield, Minnesota 

10:15 – 10:30 a.m. - Refreshments

10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. – SJMC 225

Session 2: Panel

Hip-Hop As The Bridge: A Conversation with Jabari Evans, author of new book Hip-Hop Civics (2025)Description: Join School of Journalism and Mass Communications Assistant Professor Jabari Evans for a thought-provoking discussion based on Hip-Hop Civics, which explores how Hip-Hop culture serves as a powerful tool for civic engagement, education, and community empowerment. In conversation with Professor Toby Jenkins, College of Education, author of books on evolving ideologies of culture, family, and education in contemporary society, the session will examine the intersections of media, race, and activism, highlighting how Black youth use Hip-Hop to navigate structural inequalities, understand contemporary civil rights movements and shape public

11:45 a.m.  – noon

Book signing with Jabari Evans

Noon – 1:30 p.m. – SJMC 106
Session 3

Luncheon with keynote speaker Michael Harriot 

Presiding – Kenneth Campbell, South Carolina

Introduction of Speaker– TBD

Keynote Speaker: Michael Harriot, columnist, political commentator and author of New York Times bestselling book Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America  

Recognitions -- 2025 Ronald T. and Gayla D. Farrar Award in Media & Civil Rights History

First Place
Edgar Simpson, Southern Mississippi, “Spinning Hate: Mississippi’s Post-Brown PR Offensive and the Secret Campaign Against ‘Agitators,’ 1956-1960,” American Journalism (2024) 

Runner-Up
Sid Bedingfield, Minnesota, “Mainstream Journalism and the Black Struggle For Civil Rights in the United States,” in M.M. Garza, M., Fuhlhage and T. Lucht (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to American Journalism History (2023) 

1:30 – 1:45 p.m. -- Break

1:45 – 2:45 p.m. – SJMC 106
Session 4: Research Paper Session

Presiding: George Daniels, Alabama

Research Presentation

2025 Ronald T. and Gayla D. Farrar Award in Media & Civil Rights History

Presenter: Edgar Simpson, Southern Mississippi

2:45 – 3 p.m.
Refreshments

3 – 4:15 p.m.
Session 5: Panel

Black Journalists and the Movement in South Carolina

Presiding: Bobby Donaldson, Executive Director, USC Center for Civil Rights History and Research

Panelists

Bishop Redfern Deuce, Founder and Editor, Black On News (1960s-1970s)

Don Frierson, Host, The Urban Scene; former Managing Editor, Black On News (1970s); former press director, NAACP and South Carolina Commission on Human Affairs

Cecil Williams, civil rights photojournalist, Orangeburg, S.C., published in Jet magazine;
Author, Injustice in Focus (2024)