Author John Dittmer, Ph.D., will speak about using oral history to research civil rights history in a free public talk Thursday (March 4) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Author John Dittmer, Ph.D., will speak about using oral history to research civil rights history in a free public talk Thursday (March 4) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dittmer will draw on research he conducted for his book published last May, “The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care.”
The talk will be at noon at the Love House and Hutchins Forum at 410 E. Franklin St., home of the Center for the Study of the American South. The center will provide lunch, but seating is limited. Those intending to attend should contact Reid Johnson at reidjohn@unc.edu or call (919) 962-5665.
Dittmer’s book tells the story of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, a group of health care professionals active in the Deep South at the height of the civil rights movement. They also were an active part of the New Left in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Dittmer was on the faculty at DePauw University from 1985 until he retired in 2003. His earlier book, “Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi,” which received honors including the Bancroft Prize from Columbia University, one of the most prestigious awards for writing about American history. The New York Times named it a notable book of 1994 in history.
For more information, call (919) 962-5665.
Center for the Study of the American South contact: Lisa Beavers, (919) 962-0503, lbeavers@unc.edu