"It's the Guns," Says Mental Health Partnerships

Donald Trump got at least $21 million from the gun lobby. (via Metro) 

"Mental Health Partnerships (MHP), a multi-faceted mental health advocacy and service agency, joins with all Americans in mourning the 17 lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida—and we demand that our legislators take immediate action to prevent such tragedies," says MHP President and CEO Michael Brody.

"We are talking about gun safety. After a mass shooting in Australia in 1996, the country enacted strict gun laws—and it has not had a mass shooting since. 'In the developed world, these levels of gun violence are a uniquely American problem.'

Even within the U.S., the research is clear: According to an American Public Health Association study, 'states with higher rates of gun ownership had disproportionately large numbers of deaths from firearm-related homicides.' As economist Richard Florida wrote, 'fatal gun violence is less likely to occur in richer states with more post-industrial knowledge economies, higher levels of college graduates, and tighter gun laws. Factors like drug use, stress levels, and mental illness are much less significant than might be assumed (emphasis added).'

Many of us at Mental Health Partnerships have been diagnosed with serious mental health conditions, and we are concerned about the linking of such conditions with a propensity for violence, because it increases prejudice and discrimination. As a writer on the Behavioral Scientist website noted in October: 'Perpetuating the myth that mental illness is the cause of mass shootings only serves to stigmatize the mentally ill even further. In addition, it distracts from the more difficult conversation that must be had over gun-control in America.'

Unfortunately, many of our legislators are in thrall to the National Rifle Association. Republicans received nearly $6 million in the 2016 election cycle; Democrats received $106,000. (How much does your legislator receive? Here's the list. And President Trump? He got at least $21 million from the gun lobby.) But who are they representing? Ninety percent of Americans support background checks for all gun sales.

As to the Second Amendment (which, in fact, covers militias, not personal gun ownership), common sense begs the question 'Guns have changed. Shouldn't our gun laws?'"

SOURCE: Mental Health Partnerships

National Women's Group Calls on The Everglades Foundation to Remove Paul Tudor Jones from their Board and Forfeit Donations

Paul Tudor Jones (image via Forbes)

The New York Attorney General's lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein further implicates Weinstein Company Board Members for creating a culture of sexual harassment and victimization of women.

The National women's group, Women United Now, is calling on The Everglades Foundation to remove Paul Tudor Jones, a long time personal friend of Harvey Weinstein and Weinstein Company board member, from their board and to give the $3,518,167 that Paul Tudor Jones donated to the Foundation in 2015 and 2016 to a fund for the victims of Harvey Weinstein.

In addition, they are calling on billionaire Paul Tudor Jones to give $100 Million to the same fund, as part of Women United's national campaign to hold Harvey Weinstein's billionaire board members accountable.

"It's time we shine light on not just predators like Weinstein, but also on the enablers like Paul Tudor Jones. By bringing these enablers to justice we can change the culture for all women. It starts with groups like The Everglades Foundation taking actions now to show they support the victims and notPaul Tudor Jones," stated Catrena Carter, Founder of Women United Now.

Just this week, Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General of the State of New York, filed suit to stop the sale of The Weinstein Company. The suit stated:

The Attorney General brings this action to remedy a years-long gender-based hostile work environment, a pattern of quid pro quo sexual harassment, and routine misuse of corporate resources for unlawful ends that extended from in or about 2005 through at least in or aboutOctober 2017.

The company's management and board of directors were repeatedly presented with credible evidence of HW's sexual harassment of TWC employees and interns, and his use of corporate employees and resources to facilitate sexual activity with third parties, amidst allegations that HW had engaged in unlawful sexual conduct.  (Document Attached).

Mr. Schneiderman also stated:

"Any sale of the Weinstein Company must ensure that victims will be compensated, employees will be protected going forward, and that neither perpetrators nor enablers will be unjustly enriched," (New York Times).

The Harvey Weinstein scandal arose in October 2017, when over 100 women came forward with claims of sexual assault and abuse against Weinstein. These allegations date as far back as the 1970s. Paul Tudor Jones maintained a direct relationship to Harvey Weinstein- both as a board member and as a personal friend, continuing to support Weinstein even after the allegations against him had become public. In October 2017, Paul Tudor Jones emailed his friend, proclaiming, "I love you," and telling Weinstein that "everyone would soon forget about the allegations."

Paul Tudor Jones has shown a pattern that is discriminatory towards women. In 2013, when asked at a UVA function why industrial trading was mostly men, he said that when women have children, it becomes a "focus killer." Specifically, Jones told an audience of University of Virginia students, alumni and others that it is difficult for mothers to be successful traders because connecting with a child is a focus "killer."

"As soon as that baby's lips touched that girl's bosom, forget it," Jones said, motioning to his chest. In the video of the event, Jones says, "every single investment idea . . . every desire to understand what is going to make this go up or go down is going to be overwhelmed by the most beautiful experience . . . which a man will never share." As the video goes on, he says, "You will never see as many great women investors or traders as men — period, end of story."

Carter is a 30-year veteran of both the civil rights and women's movements and has led successful, grassroots efforts around the country by getting women involved in the political process, most recently the "Vote or Die" movement that defeated accused sexual predator, Roy Moore.

Women United Now is a next phase of the #MeToo movement. As their message states, now it's time to #DemandRespect. In addition to releasing ads, the group will also be launching a grassroots effort to shine a light on the structure of powerful and successful men that allow abuse to go unchecked and unreported.

"Until these men are exposed, the culture of tolerating assaults on women will continue," said Carter.

Earlier this week, Women United Now announced they had collected more than 5,000 petitions at the University of Virginia, calling on the University to remove the Jones name from the Basketball Arena. The University of Pennsylvania removed the Wynn name from its building for similar actions by Steve Wynn.

Carter, along with volunteers, will continue petitioning UVA throughout the month to have the Jones name removed from all UVA buildings.

⏩ Click here to learn more about Women United Now, get involved and sign the petition 

SOURCE: Women United Now

David Yurman Joins Executive Producing Team For 'Gender In Hollywood' (Working Title)

Sybil and David Yurman

David Yurman is joining executive producer and Academy Award- winning actor and advocate Geena Davis in the upcoming feature-length documentary 'Gender In Hollywood' (working title). 

⏩ The film examines Hollywood's gender bias through first-hand accounts from some of Hollywood's leading industry professionals both in front of and behind the camera, shining a spotlight on the broader effects of bias on consumers of entertainment around the globe.

"David Yurman is committed to helping raise awareness about the need for gender parity, and is honored to be a part of the documentary, which is a powerful platform to spread this message," said David Yurman. "It is a natural fit."

The David Yurman brand has long been a proponent of female empowerment. 75 percent of the David Yurman executive committee are women, and the company is almost 70 percent female.

"We are a company of women, led by women and co-founded by a woman," said Sybil Yurman, co-founder David Yurman. "Since 1980 we have strived to elevate and celebrate women throughout all levels of the company."

Through the candid testimony of high-profile actors, directors and studio executives, the film connects the dots between the disparity onscreen and the lack of opportunity women face behind the scenes, telling the story of systemic discrimination throughout Hollywood's history.

Interviewees include Geena Davis, Shonda Rhimes, Jessica Chastain, Zoe Saldana, Judd Apatow, Yara Shahidi, Paul Feig, Chloe Grace Moretz, Gillian Anderson, Jackie Cruz, Sharon Stone, Alan Alda, and Lena Dunham.

Cutting-edge data from The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media is used to support the narrative of the film. The institute is the only research-based organization working behind the scenes in the media and entertainment industry to influence the need to dramatically improve gender balance, reduce stereotyping and create diverse female characters in entertainment targeting children.

"Unconscious gender bias directly correlates to the way women are represented on screen," said Geena Davis. "When we look at how this documentary will add to the discussion about gender inequality, we hope one of the key takeaways is that a solution is only possible if both women and men in this industry work together to create change."

Ku-Ling Yurman

Ku-Ling Yurman, independent filmmaker and daughter-in-law of David and Sybil, will act as an executive producer on the film. An alum of the American Film Institute, Ku-Ling has taken on many roles in the television/film industry.

"I first experienced institutionalized inequality when I was in film school, and quickly realized it spans all industries," said Ku-Ling Yurman. "Our objective with this documentary is to bring about actual change. We have a collective responsibility to take ownership of this issue and activate a higher standard for gender equality."

The film is directed by Tom Donahue (Casting By, Thank You for Your Service) and produced by CreativeChaos vmg and New Plot Films in association with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and Artemis Rising Foundation. Filming began in 2016.

In addition to Geena Davis and Ku-Ling Yurman, Regina K. Scully, Madeline Di Nonno, Steve Edwards, Patty Casby, and Jennie Peters are executive producers on the film. Ilan Arboleda and Kerianne Flynn are set to produce.

"Since we started the film a year and a half ago, we have conducted more than 100 interviews with some of the leading voices on the issue both inside and outside of Hollywood. Their candid testimony has not only detailed the systemic roadblocks that women face as storytellers and artists in Hollywood, but also has illuminated possible pathways toward lasting parity, "said director Tom Donahue.

SOURCE: David Yurman

Humanity is Put on Trial by Aliens in Startoucher, the Stunning Debut Sci Fi Novel by C.J. Odle

Startoucher cover

Based on a series of film-like visions that appeared in his mind's eye and then took two years to write as a novel, Startoucher is a revolutionary story that asks a very simple question: Would humanity survive being judged by more intelligent lifeforms? The book is available now on Amazon and the Author website is cjodle.com.

After 3.8 billion years, the alien creators of life on Earth return to evaluate the results of their experiment. One species is found to be an extreme danger to itself and others – Humanity. Evidence for the continuation of the species hangs by a thread. 

Jake Connolly, talented up and coming LA lawyer, has a hidden psychic side, long suppressed. When a series of intense visionary experiences threaten to derail his life, he is dragged unwillingly towards mysterious events deep in the Mojave Desert. What he discovers there changes him forever, and will affect the lives of everyone on the planet.

As the world watches its destiny unfold, humanity is forced to fight for its survival in a Galactic court and justify its existence to far superior beings.

An innovative, intelligent, and mystical novel that explores our place in the wider universe.

Where are we from…where are we going...how much have we truly evolved?...

About the author:

C.J. Odle

C.J. Odle is an author and ayahuascero (works with medicinal plants) living in a small conservation and healing center in the Peruvian Amazon. Born in London in 1961, from an early age he developed an interest in science fiction and fantasy. Around the age of 17 he began to study divination, which led to a career of over 35 years working as an astrologer and psychic. 

He has written four previous books, all non-fiction and mind body spirit titles. In his early forties he experienced a psychic crisis, which led him to Peru to complete a 6-year apprenticeship in Amazonian shamanism. 

Startoucher is his first novel.

SOURCE: C.J. Odle

'Sold In America' Series Looks At The Buying, Selling And Trafficking Of Sex In America

“Sold in America,” a new documentary series launching on Sunday, Feb. 18, from next-generation national news network Newsy, focuses on sex trafficking in America.

In Kentucky alone, drugs were involved in almost 40 percent of child sex trafficking cases — cases where the age range of alleged victims is 2-17 years old.

And yet Kentucky — one of five states the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies as hardest hit by the opioid crisis — is one of only a small handful of states that officially tracks and reports the intersection of drug addiction and sex trafficking.

"Sold in America," a new documentary series launching on Sunday, Feb. 18, from next-generation national news network Newsy, dives deep into this violent, abusive and lucrative industry to uncover the gaps in government efforts to combat sex trafficking.

The three-part series presents the stories behind the buying and selling of sex through the voices of trafficking survivors, sex workers, pimps, buyers and the public officials on the front lines of the effort. "Sold in America" highlights multiple perspectives on the problem and potential solutions, including why some of them just won't work, according to the sex workers themselves.

"Our goal should be to stop violence, not criminalize those who are working to survive," said Laya Monarez, whose story is featured in the series. Monarez is an artist and activist who engaged in survival sex, which is prostitution motivated by the need for basics like food and housing.

From the most exclusive brothels to urban and suburban neighborhoods, reporter Noor Tagouri and producer Kate Grumke cover the intersection of the sex trade with some of the nation's worst ills: gender discrimination, racism, drug addiction and child abuse.

"I never knew nothing (sic) about human trafficking," said Ashley Cacho, who shares her story of being trafficked starting at age 11. "I never knew that I was being exploited. … It's something that I thought was normal."

"'Sold in America' puts deep reporting against a backdrop of intense, memorable scenes and nuanced, sensitive storytelling to paint a new picture of the buying and selling of sex," said Christina Hartman, vice president of news and programming for Newsy. "You will walk away heartbroken, then angry, but ultimately inspired to influence change."

⏩ "Sold in America" premieres on Newsy's cable and over-the-top live-streaming channels Sunday, Feb. 18, at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Check local listings for channel availability. The series will then be available for on-demand viewing beginning Thursday, Feb. 22, on streaming services including Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV.

The Trailer:

Newsy is the leading cable and over-the-top news network for millennials. Its documentaries, original series and in-depth coverage of the day's U.S. news and stories from around the world are available everywhere viewers watch television. Newsy is a wholly owned subsidiary of The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP).

SOURCE: The E.W. Scripps Company

Millennial Shares Truth About Cancer in Painfully Honest Memoir: "13 Diamonds - Life Before Death from a Child's Perspective"

13 Diamonds - Life Before Death from a Child's Perspective

Thirteen years after losing her mother to brain cancer, author Manon Rinsma finally found strength to share her uncensored voice in a memoir. Under the slogan: "If you do feel lonely – let us be alone together," she initiates honest conversations about heartbreaking moments in life.

Manon Rinsma, a well-traveled, adventurous millennial with a lot of invisible baggage, refused to become a victim of her circumstances. By helping people understand the experience of losing a parent from a 12-year-old's perspective, she hopes to give insight and support to prevent others from missing out on valuable time.

13 Diamonds – Life Before Death from A Child's Perspective is a story about family. It is about hope and all the beauty life has to offer, until the unimaginable strikes and a brain tumor the size of a tennis ball made itself at home, intruding in the happy lives of a loving family. 13 Diamonds portrays the feelings and views of a young girl who witnessed her mother, the brightest, most beautiful woman she knew, slowly die – taken by this horrific form of cancer. It is about strength, life, death, beauty, grief, and most importantly, it is a story about love.

➤ 13 Diamonds – Life Before Death from a Child's Perspective is now available at Amazon.com

About Manon Rinsma

(via ManonRinsma.com)

Manon Rinsma - Author

Manon Rinsma, MSc – is a Dutch millennial, world traveler and writer. She graduated her BA in Communications with honors in the Netherlands, and finished her Master of Science in Media Psychology by the age of 23.

She worked with prominent international events, world-class commercial brands, a broad range of entertainment companies, and several governmental institutions. Manon traveled to 51 countries and has a true passion for connecting with people by sharing stories.

“Don’t be a victim of you circumstances, seize the day!”
“If you do feel lonely – let us be alone together.”

SOURCE: Manon Rinsma, MSc

Study Suggests Donald Trump May Owe His 2016 Victory To 'Fake News'

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton concedes the 2016 presidential election. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Could “fake news” have helped determine the outcome of the 2016 presidential election?Social media users and intensely partisan news broadcasts disseminated a massive number of messages during the campaign. Many of these messages demonized candidates and seriously distorted the facts presented to voters. One recent study of nearly 25,000 election social media messages shared by Michigan voters identified nearly half as “unverified WikiLeaks content and Russian-origin news stories” that fall “under the definition of propaganda based on its use of language and emotional appeals.”

What hasn’t been clear, however, is how much of an impact – if any – these “fake news” items had on the outcome of the election. To our knowledge, there have been no empirical studies that have systematically assessed the extent to which believing fake news stories influenced voting decisions in 2016. So, we set out to do one.

We are scholars associated with the Comparative National Elections Project, which is coordinated at The Ohio State University. In December 2016, we commissioned YouGov to conduct a nationwide post-election survey. Our study concludes that fake news most likely did have a substantial impact on the voting decisions of a strategically important set of voters.

⏩ Here’s what we learned.

Our research questions
The survey had 1,600 respondents. We focus our analysis on the 2016 electoral behavior of 585 respondents who had voted for Barack Obama in 2012. This strategic subset of voters was selected for two reasons.

• First, restricting our analysis to former Obama supporters allowed us to weed out those respondents who were hostile to all Democratic candidates.

• Second, if Hillary Clinton had retained the support of Obama voters, she would have most likely won the 2016 election. Instead, just 77 percent of Obama voters supported Clinton. Our survey data show that 10 percent of these former Obama voters cast ballots for Trump in 2016, 4 percent switched to minor parties and 8 percent did not vote.

⏩ Our key research question is: What accounts for these defections?

Study methodology and results
Our survey asked 281 questions, including three false statements best characterized as fake news – two negative statements about Hillary Clinton and one positive statement about Donald Trump. All three were widely disseminated through social media and spread by mainstream and partisan news outlets.

• The first is that “Hillary Clinton is in very poor health due to a serious illness.” Twenty-five percent of all survey respondents believed that this was “definitely true” or “probably true,” as did 12 percent of our former Obama supporters.

• The second is a statement that asked our respondents if they believed that “During her time as U.S. secretary of state, Hillary Clinton approved weapon sales to Islamic jihadists, including ISIS.” Thirty-five percent of our national sample believed that Clinton had sold weapons to the Islamic State, as did 20 percent of former Obama voters.

• Finally, the third is a statement that “Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump for president prior to the election.” About 10 percent of our national sample and 8 percent of Obama supporters thought this statement was true.

Belief in these fake news stories is very strongly linked to defection from the Democratic ticket by 2012 Obama voters. Among respondents who didn’t believe any of the fake news stories, 89 percent cast ballots for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Sixty-one percent of those who believed one fake news item voted for Clinton. But only 17 percent of those who believed two or all three of these false assertions voted for Clinton.


2016 support for Hillary Clinton among 2012 Obama voters 
The column on the left shows the number of fake news statements rated 'probably' or 'definitely' true by 2012 Obama voters. The solid bar shows what percentage of the respondents answering that way voted for Hillary Clinton.

The Conversation CC-BY-ND

Source: Comparative National Elections Project USA Survey 2016  Get the data

To be sure, data from a one-time survey cannot “prove” that these fake news items caused former Obama voters to defect. It is also possible that someone who chose not to vote for Clinton might endorse these false statements after the fact in order to rationalize their voting decision.

⏩ We also explored a number of other possible explanations for these voters’ defections.

What explains the voters who backed Obama but not Trump? The study shows sexism wasn’t a main cause. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The Clinton campaign heavily emphasized gender issues in an attempt to mobilize female voters. Could this have alienated men to the extent that they abandoned their prior support for the Democratic presidential candidate? Our data provide no support for such a claim. An identical 23 percent of both male and female respondents who had voted for Obama in 2012 defected from the Democratic ticket.

Did the lack of an African-American presidential candidate lead black voters to waiver in their commitment to the Democratic candidate? No. Indeed, fewer African-American voters (20 percent) defected from Clinton than did white voters (23 percent).

Age is weakly related to defection from Clinton. While 20 percent of voters over 35 abandoned the Democratic ticket in 2016, 30 percent of younger voters did so.

Education is also weakly associated with defection. Among college-educated former Obama voters, just 16 percent did not vote for Clinton, but the percentage almost doubled to 27 percent defecting for those with lower educational attainment.

More overtly political variables had a stronger impact. Half of those who placed themselves near the conservative end of the ideological scale defected from the Democratic candidate, while only 14 percent of those on the left did so.

Similarly, dissatisfaction with the condition of the economy also had an impact: Just 12 percent of those who thought that the economic situation at the time of the survey was “good” or “very good” abandoned Hillary Clinton, while 39 percent who regarded the economy as “poor” or “very poor” at the time of the survey defected from the Democratic ticket.

Party identification exerted a stronger influence. Among the former Obama voters who identified themselves as Democrats, 7 percent did not vote for Clinton. This rose to 40 percent among independents and to 68 percent among those who identified with the Republican, Libertarian or Green parties.

Controlling for alternative explanations
So do all of these alternative factors mean it’s impossible to measure the unique impact of belief in fake news on the vote in 2016? Actually social science offers us a way. Multiple regression analysis is a tool that allows researchers to account for many different factors influencing behavior, in this case defecting from the Democratic ticket in 2016.

We used this tool to estimate the joint impact on the vote of all of these alternative explanatory factors. The first equation we ran included gender, race, age, education, ideological orientation, dissatisfaction with the condition of the economy and party identification. All together, these variables “explained” 38 percent of the likelihood of defection.

We then added the fake news items to the equation to measure their impact. The three fake news items explained an additional 14 percent of the likelihood of Obama voters defecting after the influence of all of the other variables had been taken into consideration.

We also added one more compelling element to our study. Using “feeling thermometers,” we measured how much each respondent liked or disliked Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. If defection of Obama voters was only due to disliking Hillary Clinton or liking Donald Trump, then the introduction of this thermometer variable into the equation should make the link with fake news disappear.

Though how people felt about Clinton and Trump did somewhat reduce the strength of the relationship between fake news and defection, it did not eliminate it. Belief in fake news remained a significant predictor of defecting from Clinton. In sum, even after the impact of all of these other factors is taken into consideration, former Obama voters who believed one or more of these fake news stories were 3.3 times more likely to defect from the Democratic ticket in 2016 than those who did not believe any of these false claims.

That may not seem like much, but Clinton lost the presidency by about 78,000 votes (0.6 percent of nationwide vote) cast in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Though our evidence does not “prove” that belief in fake news “caused” these former Obama voters to defect from the Democratic candidate in 2016, our study results suggest that it is highly likely that the pernicious pollution of our political discourse by fake news was sufficient to influence the outcome of what was a very close election.

About Today's Contributors:
Richard Gunther, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, The Ohio State University; Erik C. Nisbet, Associate Professor of Communication, Political Science, and Environmental Policy and Faculty Associate with the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, The Ohio State University, and Paul Beck, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, The Ohio State University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. 

More "Fake News" Related Stories:

Fake News Invasion (via LoupDargent.info)

• 'Trust Us, We're Lying': Eurozine And Cultural Journals From Across Europe Take A Closer Look At The Power Of 'Post-Truth' In A New Series Of Online Articles And Debates
• There's an Insidious Strategy Behind Donald Trump's Retweets
• Why 'Judeo-Christian Values' Are A Dog-Whistle Myth Peddled By The Far Right
• 14 Year Fox News Contributor Tobin Smith and Filmmaker Jen Senko Launch "FIGHT BACK AGAINST FOX NEWS" Crowdfunding Campaign to Publish Book "Fear & UnBalanced" & Distribute "The Brainwashing of My Dad" Documentary
• National Press Club Examines 2016 Russian Election Hacking at a Headliners Book Rap Featuring Donna Brazile on December 12th

More Donald Trump Related Stories:

Click here for more Donald Trump related stories...

Frist Center Presents "We Shall Overcome: Civil Rights and the Nashville Press, 1957-1968"

Demonstrators sing in front of the Nashville Police Department on August 7, 1961, as they protest what they called police brutality in a racial clash two nights earlier. They criticized “inadequate” police protection and called for qualified black personnel to “replace incompetent officers on the police force.” 

The Frist Center for the Visual Arts will present a selection of 50 photographs from the archives of The Tennessean and The Nashville Bannerthat document an important period in Nashville's struggle for racial equality. The black-and-white photographs will be on display from March 30 through October 14, 2018 in the always free Conte Community Arts Gallery.

We Shall Overcome opens to the public fifty years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, at a time when race relations and human rights are again at the forefront of our country's political and social consciousness. The images were taken between 1957, the year that desegregation began in public schools, and 1968, when Dr. King was killed in Memphis. Of central significance are photographs of lunch counter sit-ins led by a group of students—including John Lewis and Diane Nash—from local historically black colleges and universities, which took place in early 1960.

"The exhibition builds on a recent swelling of interest in the subject throughout the city," writes Frist Center curator Katie Delmez. "The role that Nashville played in the national civil rights movement as a hub for training students in nonviolent protest and as the first city in the Southeast to integrate places of business peacefully is a story that warrants reexamination and introduction to younger generations and newcomers to the region who may not be familiar with this meaningful legacy."

⏩ The photographs are sourced from the archives of Nashville's daily newspapers: The Tennessean and the shuttered Nashville Banner. Some were published, but many were not.

The exhibition begins with a selection of images documenting the desegregation of Nashville's public schools in September 1957, three years after the Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling. Early 1960 witnessed the next wave of impactful events, when hundreds of young men and women sat at lunch counters to protest the businesses' refusal to serve African Americans. Despite being assaulted by counter-protestors and arrested for disorderly conduct, the students, mostly from Fisk University, Tennessee A&I (now Tennessee State University), Meharry Medical College, and American Baptist College, remained dedicated to peaceful resistance. In the spring of 1960, the bombing of civil rights attorney Z. Alexander Looby's home spurred as many as four thousand protestors to walk in silence to the Davidson County Courthouse, where Fisk student Diane Nash asked Mayor Ben West if segregation was wrong and if the businesses should be integrated, to which he replied yes.

Despite this significant moment, and the resulting desegregation of some businesses in downtown Nashville, there was still much more to be done to advance civil rights in the city. The mid 1960s saw continued demonstrations to desegregate movie theaters, swimming pools, restaurants, the YMCA, and other public places.

During this period, confrontation between protestors and counter-demonstrators or police became at times more tense. "Media, especially reporters and photojournalists from the more progressive Tennessean newspaper, was often there to cover the news-making events," says Delmez. "The exhibition provides an opportunity to consider the role of images and the media in shaping public opinion, a relevant subject in today's news-saturated climate."

Publication

“Archie Allen, left, a member of the civil rights demonstrators, talks with employees of the Tic Toc Restaurant on downtown Church Street April 27, 1964. Moments later, Allen was attacked by the employees and knocked down on the sidewalk.” (via The Frist Center)

The Frist Center and Vanderbilt University Press are co-publishing a book titled We Shall Overcome: Press Photographs of Nashville in the Civil Rights Era. The publication will feature 100 plates selected from the archives of The Tennessean and The Nashville Banner. 

The book will also include a foreword by Congressman John Lewis, who was a leader in the local student nonviolent resistance; an essay outlining the history of the period by Linda Wynn, Fisk University professor and assistant director of the Tennessee Historical Commission; and an overview of the position of photojournalism during the movement by Dr. Susan H. Edwards, photography historian and Frist Center executive director. 

A timeline and a bibliography will also be featured. The book is edited by Katie Delmez, curator of the accompanying exhibition. Generous support from various community leaders will allow the book to be placed in all Davidson County public schools and libraries.

Exhibition Credit

This exhibition was organized by the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.

All images generously provided by The Tennessean and the Nashville Public Library, Special Collections, which houses the Nashville Banner Archives.

Public Programs

Saturday, April 14 

"Voices from the Front Lines" A panel discussion with participants in the local civil rights movement, moderated by historian Linda Wynn

Noon 

Frist Center 

Auditorium 

Hear the stories behind the photographs of We Shall Overcome: Civil Rights and the Nashville Press, 1957–1968, and take a deeper look at the civil rights movement. Moderated by Linda Wynn, this panel will feature first-person accounts by individuals who fought for racial equity in Nashville.

About the Frist Center: 

Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit art exhibition center dedicated to presenting and originating high-quality exhibitions with related educational programs and community outreach activities. 

Located at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tenn., the Frist Center offers the finest visual art from local, regional, national, and international sources in exhibitions that inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways.
                                                                                       

SOURCE: Frist Center for the Visual Arts