2/1 Shaka Senghor, author imprisoned 19 years for murder

2017 Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Keynote Speaker
February 1 (Wednesday):  Shaka Senghor, author imprisoned 19 years for murder, and prison reform activist
Lecture: “Your Worst Deeds Do Not Define You” — 7:00 p.m., Campus Center Ballroom
Reception prior to the event, 5:30-6:45, Patroon Room, Campus Center, open to public

Shaka Senghor, inspirational speaker and leading voice in criminal justice reform, is the author of the memoir Writing My Wrongs (2016), a New York Times bestseller that candidly recounts his life growing up in an abusive household in Detroit during the height of the 1980s crack epidemic, his 19-year incarceration for murder at the age of 19, and the tools he used to confront his past and construct his future. Filmmaker J. J. Abrams praised the book describing it as “A profound story of neglect, violence, discovery, redemption and inspiration….Prepare to have your preconceptions shattered.”

 

Note:  A free reception with a variety of food and beverage options will be offered in advance of UAlbany's MLK Jr. Celebration and Lecture.

Senghor’s talk is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Student Association and University Auxiliary Services in collaboration with the New York State Writers Institute

 

For more information about the event visit the following news release,  http://www.albany.edu/news/75851.php or contact Media Relations at (518) 956-8150

Read More......

A Present for Martin Luther King's Birthday, 1986

From the New York Times, Dec. 29, 1985:

When Toni Morrison, author of the best seller ''Tar Baby'' and winner of a National Book Critics award for ''Song of Solomon,'' accepted the Albert Schweitzer Professorship of the Humanities at the State University of New York at Albany, she expected to lead the proverbially quiet life of an academic - teaching writing and writing fiction. Instead she found herself deeply involved in the theater, as a playwright.

Her drama, ''Dreaming Emmett,'' commissioned by the New York State Writers Institute at SUNY-Albany and directed by Gilbert Moses, will have its world premiere Saturday at the Market Theater there. It will be produced, in conjunction with the Writers Institute and SUNY's Capital District Humanities Program, by the Capital Repertory Company, a resident theater founded by Peter Clough and Bruce Bouchard. More.

Read More......