Reserve Now for April 16 Overbeck Lecture: Eyewitness to the Civil Rights Revolution
On Tuesday evening, April 16, the Overbeck History Lecture Series will present an on-stage interview with Simeon Booker, the 94-year-old journalist who covered the U.S. civil rights movement from its earliest days as a correspondent for Jet and Ebony and as the first black reporter hired by The Washington Post.
Booker has recorded his recollections of that era in a new book, Shocking the Conscience: A Reporter’s Account of the Civil Rights Movement. His wife Carol, who collaborated on the book, will join the April 16 conversation.
For African Americans in the 1950s, Jet became a vital source of news of the civil rights struggle. As Washington bureau chief for the pocket-size magazine and its glossy companion Ebony, Booker was on the front lines of virtually every major event. His coverage of the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, the Chicago teenager who was accused of whistling at a white woman while visiting Mississippi, provoked a wave of outrage and inspired a new generation to demand racial justice.
A longtime resident of Capitol Hill, Booker also covered 10 U.S. presidents, from Dwight Eisenhower to George W. Bush, and offers fascinating perspectives on Washington politics and mores over the past six decades.
The lecture will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, at the Naval Lodge Hall at 330 Pennsylvania Ave. S.E. and will conclude with a book signing. As usual, admission is free but a reservation is required due to limited seating. Please email OverbeckLecture@CapitolHillHistory.org and indicate how many seats you will need.
The Overbeck History Lectures are a project of the Capitol Hill Community Foundation. Please remember CHCF in your charitable giving.