Popular Racial Studies Author Presents UW Reading on Sept. 14 |
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Sept. 6, 2006 -- Timothy B. Tyson, an award-winning author and white professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will read from his historical memoir at the University of Wyoming on Thursday, Sept. 14.
Tyson will present his book, "Blood Done Sign My Name," at 4:15 p.m. in the College of Business auditorium. The reading is free and open to the public. For more information call (307) 766-3898.
Tyson's "Blood Done Sign My Name" is an examination of America's ongoing struggle for social justice.
On May 11, 1970, Henry "Dickie" Marrow, a 23-year-old black veteran, walked into a crossroads store owned by Robert Teel, a rough man with a criminal record and ties to the Ku Klux Klan, and came out running. Teel and two of his sons chased Marrow down, beat him unmercifully, and killed him in public as he pleaded for his life. An all-white jury would later acquit Teel and his two sons of all charges.
"In his most recent work, Dr. Tyson mixes history and memoir," says event organizer Elisabeth Maurer, who has been working to bring the renowned author to UW since September 2005. "Dr. Tyson is already booked for the fall semester 2006 so I am very grateful that he's coming out to Wyoming. I think it's a great honor for our university and I hope many students and community members will take advantage of this opportunity to meet him and hear his work."
Kirkus Reviews calls the book a "powerful, wrenching story of a racial killing during the author's North Carolina childhood -- [A] remarkable work -- One of the most candid and lucent books on race in this or any other year."
His previous book, "Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power," won the "2000 James Rawley Prize" and was co-winner of the "2000 Frederick Jackson Turner Prize." Tyson also is co-editor of "Democracy Betrayed: The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and Its Legacy."
The reading is sponsored by UW's American Studies Program, Amnesty International, the College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Office, Associated Students of UW, Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning, the UW departments of history and English, PACMWA and the Milward L. Simpson Fund.
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Timothy B. Tyson, an award-winning author and white professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will read from his historical memoir at the University of Wyoming on Thursday, Sept. 14. (Photo by Stephen C. Pool)
Posted on Wednesday, September 06, 2006
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