We are proud to announce that Alvernia's Fall 2024 Holleran Lecture: SEARCH Keynote Speaker is Gretchen Sorin, the author of "." She will be on campus to speak about her book and sign copies. The keynote will begin at 2:30 at the PLEX followed by a Q&A and book signing.
Faculty, staff and community partners are welcome to attend. Please
*All first-year students are required to attend and do not have to register. All first-year students will be excused from classes and other activities to join the event with their SEARCH course.
This year's SEARCH theme is "Voices of Justice: Navigating the Civil Rights Movement, Past, Present, and Future." Here is the summary of the book from the publisher:
鈥淒riving While Black demonstrates that the car 鈥 the ultimate symbol of independence and possibility 鈥 has always held particular importance for African Americans, allowing black families to evade the dangers presented by an entrenched racist society and to enjoy, in some measure, the freedom of the open road. Melding new archival research with her family鈥檚 story, Gretchen Sorin recovers a lost history, demonstrating how, when combined with black travel guides 鈥 including the famous Green Book 鈥 the automobile encouraged a new way of resisting oppression.鈥
Sorin鈥檚 book is also the basis of a major PBS documentary by Gretchen Sorin and Ric Burns of the same title.
We are excited to be able to provide students, faculty, staff, and community members with this excellent opportunity! This year鈥檚 theme will explore what is ours to do in promoting equality, justice, and protection for all individuals, as well as fostering a society built on fundamental human dignity and fairness. Dr. Sorin鈥檚 book is full of stories of 鈥減eople power,鈥 civil resistance, and positive human forces that changed American society.