Arkansas Tech University will host a Black History Month keynote address entitled “My Childhood Experiences with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: Growing Up in the Selma Civil Rights Movement” by Sheyann Webb Christburg on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
The event will begin at 7 p.m. in Doc Bryan Student Services Center Lecture Hall, which is located at 1605 Coliseum Drive on the ATU campus in Russellville. Admission will be free and open to the public.
The course of Christburg’s life was forever altered when, at the age of 9, she was described as the “Smallest Freedom Fighter” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in recognition of her participation in the historic civil rights marches from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.
She authored “Selma, Lord, Selma: Girlhood Memories of the Civil Rights Days” as a memoir of how she became active in the civil rights movement. The book was later made into an NAACP Image Award-nominated film by Disney.
Christburg has persisted as an advocate for civil rights, voting rights and humanitarian efforts throughout her life. She is writing a second book, which will be entitled “Didn’t Let Nobody Turn Me Around.”
Recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, Christburg has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, MSNBC, CNN and the Tom Joyner Show. She was featured in the PBS documentary “Eyes on the Prize” and she was portrayed in the major motion picture “Selma.”
ATU students, faculty and staff will have an additional opportunity to hear Christburg speak from 4-5 p.m. Tuesday in Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center room 300.
