National civil rights conference to highlight most pressing issues, historic murders, engagement June 18-21
The conference explores the past, present and future through tours, trainings, presentations, conversations, and art, highlighting civil rights veterans and honoring those who risked it all.
Voting rights, redistricting, restorative justice, The Baton Rouge Bus Boycott, and other important historical and contemporary civil rights issues will highlight the 11th Annual National Civil Rights Conference, June 20-21, in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The conference theme is “Engage, Educate & Empower.” Pre-conference activities will take place at historic locations throughout New Orleans, June 18-19.
“This year, more than ever, we need to inform, educate and engage the populace in conversations and activities dedicated to civic engagement and, especially, the importance of the vote,” said Keith D. Parker, chairperson of the 2022 National Civil Rights Conference.
“This conference will explore our past, present and future through tours, trainings, presentations, conversations and art, highlighting the civil rights veterans of Louisiana and honoring those who risked it all to open doors for us to walk through,” said Ada Goodly Lampkin, director of the Louis A. Berry Institute for Civil Rights and Justice.
Beginning on June 18, free Restorative Justice Circle trainings will be held for youth along with sessions covering a range of topics, including human rights and therapeutic art.
“It is important that we also engage our young people and HBCUs in conversations and action around civil rights, which are under attack in nearly every city and every state in this country,” said Lampkin.
Attendees will attend a historic marker unveiling, tours, a special Father’s Day event honor the lives of local civil rights veterans, and a private screening of “A Crime On The Bayou,” which tells the story of Gary Duncan, a Black teenager arrested and convicted for touching a white boy’s arm in Louisiana in 1966.
Baton Rouge conference activities will take place on the campus of Southern University and at the Baton Rouge Hilton Capitol Center.
Southern University alumnus and award-winning filmmaker Keith Beauchamp will host a screening of his documentary, “The Untold Story of Emmett Till” and the Civil Rights & Restorative Justice Project will highlight the work of local law students to uncover truths and seek justice.
Attendees will hear presentations on the murders of Denver Smith and Leonard Brown from Donney Rose, award-winning writer, artist, and chief content editor of The North Star, and also on The Baton Rouge Bus Boycott from Eugene Collins, president of the Baton Rouge Branch of the NAACP.
“The conference will provide platforms and opportunities for synergistic dialogues on civic and collective engagement,” said Parker.
Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins, president of the League of Women Voters of the United States, Cecile Scoon, president of the League of Women’s Voters in Florida, and others will present on voting rights and redistricting.
Southern University Law Center’s Louis A. Berry Institute for Civil Rights and Justice is the conference’s host and co-sponsor in partnership with the National Education and Empowerment Coalition, Inc., and Miami University.
“Louis A. Berry, a renowned civil rights attorney and advocate who made tremendous strides in the field, helped to start the Southern University Law Center and became one of its first deans. It is fitting that we celebrate his legacy of civil rights as we also celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Southern University Law Center,” said Lampkin.
Register at sulc.edu/ncrc.