Dr. Charles Payne to speak at City Library on September 11

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Media Contact:
Julianne Hancock
E: jhancock@slcpl.org
P: 801.819.3763

Dr. Charles Payne to speak at City Library on September 11
Author, professor to speak on building movements that result in a more inclusive society

August 24, 2011 – SALT LAKE CITY – Dr. Charles Payne, author and Frank P. Hixon Professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago, will speak about movements that have ensured the principle of pluralistic values in society on September 11 at the Main Library.

The lecture is part of the City Library’s four-day conference, Cultural and Religious Pluralism Today: Building Civility & Unity.

Many members of the American Civil Rights movement were deeply committed to the principle that pluralistic values are most likely to thrive in societies where everyday citizens are deeply involved in civic life rather than depending on leaders, even democratically elected ones. This talk, titled “Strong People Don’t Need Strong Leaders: Building Movements from the Bottom-Up,” will examine the thinking and work of these activists, including the impact they had on other democratizing movements (such as the student power movement, the anti-war movement, the Chicano and Native American movements, and modern feminism) resulting in a society that gave more space to previously excluded groups. This talk will also explore contemporary forms of the politics of empowerment, some of them directly traceable to the Civil Rights movement.

Dr. Payne’s lecture is generously sponsored by the Interreligious Engagement Initiative, Utah Valley University; and the Utah Humanities Council. A public reception will follow.

For more information on Dr. Payne’s talk and other events at the conference, visit www.slcpl.org/pluralism.

About Charles M. Payne:
Payne is the Frank P. Hixon Professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. His interests include urban education and school reform, social inequality, social change and modern African American history. His most recent books are So Much Reform, So Little Change (Harvard Education Publishing Group, 2008) which examines the persistence of failure in urban schools, and an anthology, Teach Freedom: The African American Tradition of Education For Liberation (Teachers College Press, 2008), which is concerned with Freedom School-like education. With the support of the Carnegie Scholar’s Program, he is doing a study of how school reform dialogue in other countries compares to the American situation.




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JULIANNE HANCOCK
Communications Manager | Salt Lake City Public Library
p: 801.524.8219 | m: 801.819.3763 | jhancock@slcpl.org