5th Annual MLK Symposium
Students gather for a symbolic march across campus as part of the 5th Annual MLK Symposium. Photo by Carl Socolow '77.
As part of the 5th Annual MLK Symposium, Dickinson will host “Prisons, State Violence, and the Organizing Tradition,” a lecture by author Dan Berger on Tuesday, March 3, at 7 p.m. in the Stern Center Great Room. The author of The Struggle Within: Prisons, Political Prisoners, and Mass Movements in the United States will explore the central role that people in prison played during the civil rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
From 1980 to 2008, the number of people incarcerated in America quadrupled, from roughly 500,000 to 2.3 million, with African Americans constituting nearly one million of the incarcerated population. Recent protests against police violence and mass criminalization of black youth have prompted critical examinations into the American criminal-justice system.
Berger, an assistant professor of comparative ethnic studies at the University of Washington Bothell, argues that today’s mass incarceration began as a response to the mass mobilization of prisoners and neighborhoods. Berger studies race, prisons and social movements in U.S. history. His most recent book is Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era.
The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by Dickinson’s Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity. For more information, call 717-245-1875. Audio and video of past Clarke Forum events are available through Clarke Forum podcasts. Podcasts of numerous college speakers as well as course podcasts also are available via Dickinson's iTunes U channel.
More Events from the 5th Annual MLK Symposium
#MarchOnDickinson
A symbolic march across campus in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his work for social justice.
Monday, March 2
7 - 8 p.m.
Underground
Community Dialogue
Wednesday, March 4
7 – 9 p.m.
Allison Hall
A guided conversation between students and faculty about movements and organizing. The dialogue aims to help participants understand whether social movements are still effective, what is worth organizing for and why people organize and participate in movements.
Film and panel discussion: Selma
Thursday, March 5
7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Carlisle Theatre
Dickinson and the YWCA Carlisle have teamed up to sponsor a post-screening panel discussion of the film, Selma. Panelists are Crystal Moten, assistant professor of history; Erik Love, assistant professor of sociology; Tawanda Hunter, YWCA; Col. Charles D. Allen, U.S. Army War College. Cost is $3 with student ID.
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Published March 2, 2015