Skip to main content

Author Timothy Tyson to speak Feb. 22

Noted author, historian and social justice advocate Timothy Tyson, Ph.D. will speak at the UNC School of Social Work on Tues., Feb. 22 from 12:15-1:30 p.m. in the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building Auditorium. The title of his talk is “Nonviolence: A Radically Unacceptable Approach to Social Problems.”

Tyson is a senior research scholar at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Visiting Professor of American Christianity and Southern Culture at Duke Divinity School, and holds appointments in the Department of American Studies at UNC and in the Department of History at Duke.  A North Carolina native, Tyson earned his B.A. at Emory University in 1987 and his Ph.D. at Duke in 1994.

His books include 2004’s “Blood Done Sign My Name,” a memoir and history of the murder of a black man, Henry Marrow, in Oxford, North Carolina in 1970 and the social unrest that followed when the accused were acquitted. “Blood Done Sign My Name” was selected by dozens of college and community reading programs. The book won the Southern Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Hollywood soon took notice. A screenplay was written based on the book, and in 2010 the independent film “Blood Done Sign My Name” was  released.

This lecture is sponsored by the  UNC School of Social Work Field Education Program and the School of Social Work Student Organization. It is free and open to the public.

“Dr. Tyson is masterful in his ability to weave his personal narrative with the social justice issues of our time,” said Rebecca Brigham, director of Field Education. “His passion and sense of humor will captivate the audience while leaving them with a strong desire to act for social change.”