“The struggle to maintain a democratic society is one of our greatest challenges we face as a people.” —Gretchen Sorin
Gretchen Sorin, the acclaimed author of “Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights,” will return to JHC for a FREE virtual event on February 11 at 7 p.m. Dr. Sorin, the Director of Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies, will discuss her acclaimed body of research and partly autobiographical work, which documents the impact of automobile transportation on the Civil Rights Movement and race relations in America.
The registration link is here.
In 1998, Dr. Sorin helped envision a dynamic role for the relatively new nonprofit Jay Heritage Center, which was itself born out of courageous advocacy and the activism of numerous historic, environmental, and governmental partners. Sorin encouraged JHC to “remind Americans of the struggles of the framers of the constitution and the courts and to connect those struggles with present day concerns about civil rights and civil liberties.” Today, JHC continues to be inspired by Sorin’s ideas and serves as a community “forum for creative problem-solving and the exploration of difficult issues that affect each of our lives”. We’re delighted to have her share her book with us, a significant work that also inspired a documentary of the same name by film director Ric Burns and Steeplechase Films.
Made possible by generous grants from Alger and Con Edison