Rev. Lennox Yearwood Keynoting Our 40th Anniversary Event!

We would like to invite you to our 40th Anniversary event at American Tobacco Campus will also feature award-winning editor of Rolling Stone magazine, Eric Bates.

WHAT: 40th Anniversary Event for Institute for Southern Studies
WHO: Rev. Lennox Yearwood, CEO of the national Hip Hop Caucus, and Eric Bates, awardwinning editor of Rolling Stone magazine, plus Cool John Ferguson will be playing
WHEN: Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 7pm
WHERE: Bay 7 on the American Tobacco Campus, Durham, NC
WHY: To celebrate the Institute’s 40 years of work for change in the South

“Rev. Yearwood is one of the most dynamic leaders and electrifying speakers in America today,” said Chris Kromm, director of the Durham-based Institute. “We’re thrilled to bring his message of positive change and next-generation civil rights activism to North Carolina.”

In 2010 Rev. Yearwood was named one of the 100 most powerful African Americans by Ebony magazine. Rev. Yearwood founded the Hip Hop Caucus in 2004 to give political voice to the Hip Hop Generation; the group now claims 700,000 members across 48 states. In 2008, Rev. Yearwood launched the “Respect My Vote!” campaign with celebrity spokespeople T.I. and Keyshia Cole, which turned out record numbers of young people on Election Day.

Also speaking at our gala will be Eric Bates, an editor at Rolling Stone magazine, which this month won the George Polk Award for Magazine Reporting for its coverage of the war in Afghanistan. Bates is a former editor of Southern Exposure.

Tickets are $35 ($15 students); for more information visit www.southernstudies.org/event.html or call 919-419-8311 x27.