The Movement Made Us Book Discussion w/ Authors & Charisse Gibson

2128 Saint Claude Avenue,New Orleans LA 70117

14 May, 2022

Description

Nola Art Bar welcomes David Dennis Sr. and Jr. in conversation with Charisse Gibson for a book launch and signing. Nola Art Bar welcomes David Dennis Sr. and Jr. in conversation with Charisse Gibson for a book launch and signing in celebration of The Movement Made Us: A Father, a Son, and the Legacy of a Freedom Ride. This event takes place at Nola Art Bar (2128 St. Claude Ave, New Orleans, LA 70116) and is free and open to the public. No ticket or reservation is required to attend. Books will be available for purchase from Baldwin & Co. coffee + bookstore. Masks are encouraged but not required. About the Book: A dynamic family exchange that pivots between the voices of a father and son, The Movement Made Us is a unique work of oral history and memoir, chronicling the extraordinary story of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and its living legacy embodied in Black Lives Matter. David Dennis Sr, a core architect of the movement, speaks out for the first time, swapping recollections both harrowing and joyful with David Jr, a journalist working on the front lines of change today. Taken together, their stories paint a critical portrait of America, casting one nation’s image through the lens of two individual Black men and their unique relationship. Playful and searching, anxious and restorative, fearless and driving, this intimate memoir features scenes from across David Sr’s life, as he becomes involved in the movement, tries to move beyond it, and ultimately returns to it to find final solace and new sense of self—revealing a survivor who travels eternally with a cabal of ghosts. A crucial addition to Civil Rights history, The Movement Made Us is the story of a nation reckoning with change and the hopes, struggles, setbacks, and triumphs of modern Black life. This is it: the extant chronicle of why we live, why we move, and for what we are made. About the Authors: DAVID J. DENNIS SR. is a civil rights veteran and one of the original Freedom Riders who rode from Montgomery to Jackson in 1961. He served as field secretary for the Congress of Racial Equality in Louisiana and Mississippi (1961–65) and as co-director with Bob Moses of the Voter Education Committee of the Council of Federated Organizations. He helped organize the Mississippi Freedom Summer, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and the challenge to the National Democratic Party in 1964. He attended Dillard University and earned his law degree at the University of Michigan. In 1972, he co-directed the challenge to the Louisiana Democratic structure that resulted in an African American chairman and a majority African American delegation being sent to the national convention, the first time since Reconstruction. He is the executive director of the Southern Initiative Algebra Project, Inc., a nonprofit organization that works to ensure a quality education for all children, especially children of color and the chronically underserved. DAVID J. DENNIS JR. is a senior writer at The Undefeated. His work has been featured in Atlanta magazine, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and Huffington Post, among other publications. Dennis is the recipient of the 2021 American Mosaic Journalism Prize, is a National Association of Black Journalist Salute to Excellence award winner and was named one of The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans of 2020. He lives in Georgia with his wife and two children and is a graduate of Davidson College. About the Moderator: Charisse Gibson is a National Edward R. Murrow and Emmy award-winning Journalist, Producer, and Evening News Anchor at WWL-TV in New Orleans, LA. She began her television career at WWL-TV in 2010 as a desk assistant. She used that time in the newsroom to work with Reporters, Anchors, and Photographers to better sharpen her skills in front and behind the camera leading to writing as an Associate Producer for the WWL-TV Morning Show. Her time behind the scenes working with New Orleans legends such as Sally-Ann Roberts and Eric Paulsen led to a career as a TV News Producer on the Mississippi Gulf Coast at WLOX-TV where she would jump in front of the camera from time to time as a Fill-in Anchor and Reporter. Sometimes all in the same day while producing the same show. She also spent time at KSLA News 12 in Shreveport, LA, and FOX 19 Now in Cincinnati, OH as a breaking news anchor, co-anchor/host of the “Morning Xtra” as well as Producer/Host of “Cincinnati Connection” a public affairs television show exploring social and community issues throughout Cincinnati. During her time at FOX 19 NOW, Charisse was Emmy-nominated for her documentary on the Freedom Riders and their connection to the Greater Cincinnati area including the training of hundreds of students at Miami University for the Mississippi Summer Project or Freedom Summer. With a serious interest in culture and history, she produced a special report called “The Migration of Sound” exploring how jazz music traveled the Mississippi River and found its way in Cincinnati’s West End community. Now that Charisse is home, she shifts her focus to the ever-changing landscape of New Orleans and surrounding areas. In her Emmy-nominated series “Treme: Death of a Neighborhood, Survival of a Culture,” Charisse explores the many factors that decimated America’s first black neighborhood and the birthplace of Jazz. Continuing her interest in community issues, her Emmy-nominated special report “Victims of Progress Pt 1 & 2” explore how the petrochemical industry is quite literally erasing history as districts mostly lived in by black residents whose families have been there for generations have been converted into “industrial/residential” districts. These districts also run along the same corridor that gained the moniker “Cancer Alley” though it was originally dubbed “Plantation Country.” Her work goes beyond documentaries, Charisse has reported live in the field in the aftermath of an attack on an NOPD officer in the French Quarter, the first reporter on the scene. She has anchored countless hours of coverage during Hurricanes, breaking news such as the Hard Rock Collapse and Elections. She is also a skilled interviewer and community advocate. Her latest project “The Talk: A Hard Conversation About Race in America” was the winner of both a regional and national Edward R Murrow Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. “The Talk”, done after the murder of George Floyd, was written, produced, and hosted by Charisse Gibson and filmed by photojournalist Derek Waldrip. It centers on conversations many Black parents have with their children at a certain age on how to remain safe in America. The documentary opened itself up to a series that continues today. Charisse is a proud HBCU graduate of Southern University A&M College in Baton Rouge, LA. She is also an active member of the National Association of Black Journalists, recently (2022) voted President of the New Orleans Association of Black Journalists.