Dr. Terrence Roberts will speak on “Evaluating the Dream: The Legacy of the Little Rock Nine” on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in Garrison Theater, Scripps College Performing Arts Center. The lecture is part of the 2008 Claremont Colleges’ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Week.
Roberts will explore the salient lessons from Little Rock, 1957, which inform decision-making in the twenty-first century. After much controversy, as a 15-year-old eleventh grader, Roberts joined eight other students to become one of the first nine black students to attend a formerly segregated public school in Little Rock, Arkansas. With no support or protection from the governor, when the Little Rock Nine were allowed to enter the school, an enraged white mob began to riot. The students were escorted out, and for the next year, in spite of armed escorts, the students continued to be victimized by physical and verbal abuse.
Continuing to address issues reminiscent of his experience, since 1998 Dr. Roberts has been the official desegregation consultant for the Little Rock, Arkansas School District, and provides similar services to school districts around the nation. Dr. Roberts heads a management consultant group dedicated to improving human relations in the workplace. Currently the co-chairperson of the Master’s in Psychology Program at Antioch University, Dr. Roberts earned his bachelor’s from California State University at Los Angeles, his master’s in social welfare from UCLA, and his Ph.D. in psychology from Southern Illinois University.
In conjunction with this event, Grace Guggenheim, producer, Guggenheim Productions Inc., will be screening two short Academy Award-winning works, “Nine from Little Rock” and “A Time for Justice.” The program will take place on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in Garrison Theater. This presentation is part of the Alexa Fullerton Hampton Speaker Series, Voice and Vision, made possible through the generous bequest of Scripps alumna Alexa Fullerton Hampton ’42.