Convocation lecture to examine ‘Journalism and Jim Crow’

"Journalism and Jim Crow: White Supremacy, the Black Press, and the Struggle for American Democracy" will be explored in a Zoom lecture by Dr. Sid Bedingfield, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota, in the Mary Louise White Lecture/Convocation Series on Thursday, March 31, from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Dr. Bedingfield teaches journalism and mass communication at UMN’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication and is also a print and broadcast journalist as well as a journalism historian.

His talk serves as a guest lecture for ENGL 521: Ethics in Writing, a graduate course taught by Department of English Professor Jeanette McVicker this semester, in which students preparing to become ELA (English Language Arts) teachers are discussing the connections between American literature, journalism and media, with a focus on intersectional pedagogy.

The talk is free and open to the community but online registration is required. A Q&A will follow the lecture.

Bedingfield's research fits perfectly with the Convocation Committee's theme “Finding Truth: Communication in an Age of Misinformation," Dr. McVicker observed. His talk was organized by McVicker with support from the Convocation Committee and the Mary Louise White Fund in the Department of English through the Fredonia College Foundation.

Copies of “Journalism and Jim Crow: White Supremacy and the Black Struggle for a New America,” co-edited by Bedingfield and Kathy Roberts Forde and published in 2021, are available at the campus bookstore.

Bedingfield’s research focuses on journalism's role in democratic societies during times of political and cultural change. He specializes in political communication and journalism history, has a Ph.D. and M.A., both in Mass Communication, from the University of South Carolina, and a B.A. in English Literature from Florida State University.