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Contact: Brian Schwieger, 501-396-3006
National Park Service Speaker Series
Hosted by Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, the National Park Service Speaker Series is an inspiring initiative aimed at fostering awareness and dialogue about critical issues of equality, justice, and human rights. Featuring a diverse lineup of esteemed speakers, including activists, scholars, and leaders from various fields, the series will a platform for learning powerful stories and historical insights. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage in thought-provoking conversations on historical and contemporary civil rights challenges, emphasizing the ongoing struggle for social justice and the importance of collective action in creating a more equitable society.
Each event in the series is meticulously designed to educate and motivate audiences, encouraging them to reflect on their roles in advancing civil rights. Through these compelling presentations, participants will gain a deeper understanding of systemic injustices and the intersectionality of civil rights issues. By fostering an environment of learning and activism, the National Park Service Speaker Series aims to empower individuals to become advocates for change and champions of human dignity.
All of the programs in the National Park Service Speaker Series will be free and open to the public; below are the dates, times and the corresponding speakers and topics for August 2024. All programs will be held at the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site visitor center located at 2120 W. Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive; more programs will be added at a later date:
Saturday, August 10, 2024
11:00 a.m. CST
Dr. Sybil Jordan Hampton - A Conversation on Desegregation at Central High School after the Crisis
Dr. Sybil Jordan Hampton is a lifelong educator and social justice foot soldier. Prior to retiring in 2006, Dr. Hampton served as President of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation (Little Rock, Arkansas) and Contributions Manager, Education and Culture at the GTE Corporate Foundation (Stamford, Connecticut). Twenty-three years of her career were spent in academic administrative positions at Iona College (New Rochelle, NY), the University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin) and Southwestern University (Georgetown, Texas). Early in her career she taught at the Louis Champlain Elementary School and worked at the Social Security Payment Center (Chicago, Illinois).
After completing an undergraduate degree in English Literature at Earlham College (Richmond, Indiana), Dr. Hampton earned a Master of Science in Teaching (the University of Chicago), a Master of Education and a Doctorate in Higher Education at Columbia University's Teachers College (New York, New York). Southwestern University awarded her the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (honoris causa).
Her honors and awards include: 2019 Alumni Diversity Leadership Award, the University of Chicago; 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award, Teachers College, Columbia University; 2017 Award of Excellence, the Little Rock Central High School Tiger Foundation; 2013 Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site's Soul of Humanity Award; 2005 Arkansas Black Hall of Fame Award; 2005 Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE) Lifetime Achievement Award and 14th Annual James A. Joseph Lecturer; 2002 Arkansas Region, National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) Humanitarian Award; Arkansas Business Top 100 Women in Arkansas 1997, 1998, and 1999.
Following retirement Dr. Hampton served as Interim General Manager of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. She continues to work as a consultant and public speaker focusing on issues related to economic, educational and social justice, governance, strategic visioning and planning, as well as academic advising and student developmental support services. Dr. Hampton traveled to Corrymeela, Northern Ireland as a result of a grant awarded by the American Embassy in London to speak, primarily with high school students throughout the country about the American school desegregation struggle after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court Decision.
As the first three-year African American graduate of Little Rock Central High School in 1962, Dr. Hampton makes presentations and leads discussions with young student visitors to the National Park Service’s Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site uses Zoom and Teams to work with students in their classrooms across the nation and in Northern Ireland as well as airmen in Saudi Arabia and at the Little Rock Air Force Base. She recently made an International Day to End Racial Discrimination presentation, answered questions about her role in the Little Rock Central High School desegregation struggle and discussed what it means to be inclusive for RSW Group employees worldwide.
Dr. Hampton served as President of the Little Rock Aesthetic Club and the Little Rock Club, and formerly was a board member of the Japanese American National Museum; Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s The Blue and You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas; the Foundation for the Mid-South; and the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. She currently is a member of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Reynolds Institute on Aging Advisory Board, the Mount Holly Cemetery Board, and is a Life Member of the Girl Scouts of the USA, the Arkansas Symphony Guild, and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors.
Saturday, August 17, 2024
11:00 a.m. CST
Dr. John Kirk - A Conversation on the Civil Rights Movement in Little Rock after the Central High Crisis
Dr. John A. Kirk is the George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He worked at the University of Wales and the University of London in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States in the summer of 2010. Kirk served for five years as chair of the UA Little Rock History Department and for four years as director of the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity. He has held several grants and fellowships in both Europe and the United States, including as Roosevelt Study Centre Fellow (Middleburg, The Netherlands), John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Fellow, and Rockefeller Archive Center Scholar-in-Residence. From the Arkansas Historical Association, Kirk has received the Diamond Award for his work on the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail, the Award of Merit for his work on the Arkansas Civil Rights History Tour App, the J. G. Ragsdale Book Award, and the Violet B. Gingles Award, the Lucille Westbrook Award, and the Walter L. Brown Award for best articles on Arkansas history. He received the UA Little Rock Faculty Excellence Award in Public Service in 2022 and the UA Little Rock inaugural University Faculty Excellence Award in Social Justice in 2023. Most recently, he received the 2024 Booker Worthen Literary Prize for his biography of Winthrop Rockefeller.
Kirk has authored, edited, or co-edited ten books including Redefining the Color Line: Black Activism in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1940-1970 (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2002); Martin Luther King, Jr. (London and New York: Routledge, 2005); Beyond Little Rock: The Origins and Legacies of the Central High Crisis (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2007); Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement: Controversies and Debates (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007); Arsnick: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Arkansas (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2011); Race and Ethnicity in Arkansas: New Perspectives (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2014); and The Civil Rights Movement: A Documentary Reader (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 2020). He has published numerous book chapters in edited collections and numerous articles in a wide variety of journals including the Journal of African American History, Journal of Contemporary History, Journal of American Studies, Reviews in American History, and Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Society and Culture. His work has featured in various media outlets including The Guardian, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, PBS, CNN, The History Channel, and BBC Radio. Kirk’s radio segments on “Arkansas Moments” have featured on Little Rock Public Radio for the past twelve years.
Last updated: July 31, 2024