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Langston Hughes’s 1931 Visit to Chapel Hill: The Scottsboro Case and Legal Lynching
September 19, 2023 @ 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
featuring Jason Miller, Professor of English, NC State University
Poet Langston Hughes debuted his most famous anti-lynching poem in Chapel Hill during his 1931 visit to Orange County. His appearance was so controversial that police were stationed outside the door of his public reading. Though he wrote nearly three dozen anti-lynching poems between 1919-67, none equaled the immediate or lasting impact of “Christ in Alabama.” This multimedia presentation documents and contextualizes an unforgettable moment in Hughes’s lifelong national campaign against American lynching culture.
This program will feature poetry performances from NC Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green and Nick Courmon along with a presentation from NCSU English professor Jason Miller, author of Langston Hughes and American Lynching Culture.
DETAILS
COST: Free and open to the public
DATE and TIME: Tuesday, September 19 | 6:30-7:30 PM
LOCATION: Chapel Hill Public Library
Presented in partnership with the Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition and the Chapel Hill Public Library.
