About the Program
Pamela Newkirk presents a history of African-American men and women through their personal correspondences. The letters span three hundred years, from Benjamin Banneker's letter to then Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson in 1791 protesting slavery to a series of notes between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Correta Scott King in the 1950's and a letter from Alice Walker to Barack Obama the day following his election to the presidency. This event was hosted by New York University in New York City.