5:00 p.m. Registration and networking
5:30 p.m. Screening of American Denial
6:30 p.m. Discussion with Chervis Isom
American Denial is the story of researcher and Nobel Laureate Gunnar Myrdal whose study, An American Dilemma (1944), provided an inquiry into how denial, cognitive dissonance, and unrecognized, unconscious attitudes continue to dominate racial dynamics in American life. The film's unusual narrative sheds a unique light on the unconscious political and moral world of modern Americans. Archival footage, newsreels, nightly news reports, and rare southern home movies from the '30s and '40s thread through the story, as well as psychological testing into racial attitudes from research footage, websites, and YouTube films.
We will also hear from Baker Donelson Senior Counsel Chervis Isom, whose autobiography, The Newspaper Boy, tells the story of a white Southerner's teenage journey to racial tolerance in '50s and '60s Birmingham, Alabama.
Baker Donelson is presenting this screening in conjunction with Nashville Public Television's Black History Month programming.
BookManBookWoman will have copies of The Newspaper Boy available for purchase and signing.
Complimentary parking will be available in the Baker Donelson Center garage for those who RSVP.
This event was rescheduled from February due to inclement weather.
Baker Donelson is proud to sponsor NPT's Black History Month programming.