The Department of Human Environmental Sciences would like to invite Meredith College and community partners to kick off 2020 by joining them to watch the profoundly touching documentary, “An Unlikely Friendship.” Following the video, you will have the opportunity to listen to a panel including the film maker and actual participants of the pivotal events in the 1970’s that led to the formation of a powerful coalition of diverse partners. Guests will leave this event feeling hopeful that very different people can listen to one another, and work together for positive change.
We look forward to seeing you in Jones Auditorium at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, January 28, and in Johnson Hall for a reception following the event.
Panelists that will facilitate the discussion are as follows:
Bill Riddick, organized the 1970 Charrette in Durham, bringing the community together to find ways to peacefully integrate the schools. Bill has done groundbreaking work in using the charrette process to solve community problems and is the author of the book: Charrette processes: A tool in urban planning.
Lou Lipsitz, the narrator of An Unlikely Friendship, is a psychotherapist in Chapel Hill. He taught political science at UNC for many years. He has long been concerned with issues of social justice and the psychology of conflict resolution.
Diane Bloom is a qualitative researcher and an independent filmmaker from Chapel Hill, who wrote, directed and produced An Unlikely Friendship. She travels around the country showing the documentary and conducting diversity workshops on “Making Differences Work.”
Deborah Holt Noel is the host and producer of Black Issues Form public affairs program on UNC TV. She also hosts the North Carolina Weekend travel show.
Dr. Dawn X. Henderson is the Program Director of Racial Healing Circles at Duke University. She has published work on how racial trauma and stress occurs in the U.S. public education system and how young people and educators of color remain resilient and cope in this system. She is an Interdisciplinary Research Leader Fellow with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and has written commentaries on issues of race and education for Psychology Today, the American Psychological Association, and the News and Observer.
Stephen Hawthorne is a social worker/psychotherapist. He has also created programs for disadvantaged families and children. He formed a deep friendship with Ann Atwater and subsequently became the godfather for her two grandchildren. Stephen suggested the idea of creating a documentary so that Ann and CP’s story, told in their own words, would be preserved for history.
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