PROGRAMS OF THE BENJAMIN L. HOOKS INSTITUTE

The Hooks Institute brings together prominent scholars, community members, and those who shape our national affairs to advance the goals of the Civil Rights Movement, to promote human rights and to honor the legacy of public service witnessed in the lifetime work of Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks. The institute currently offers an array of programs to support our mission.

The Civil Rights Archives Project
 

The Hooks Papers.
Dr. Hooks has donated his papers to the University of Memphis. His long career placed him in the center of some of the most significant events in this nation’s history over the last fifty years. His papers, therefore, represent a unique and valuable research resource on the history of the Civil Rights Movement and the NAACP, as well as the changing status of African Americans in the South and in the nation.

The Fayette County Civil Rights Papers.
 In 1959, African Americans in Fayette County, Tennessee (50 miles east of Memphis) began a civil rights movement by exercising their right to register to vote. This simple act ignited a grassroots movement that extended well into the 1970s. The collection includes correspondence, photographs and documents created at the time of the Movement events and video interviews that were edited to create the documentary Freedom’s Front Line: Fayette County, TN, which premiered on public television in October 2008.
These resources are housed in the University of Memphis’ special collections library, the Mississippi Valley Collection. These materials add historical depth to the already existing materials about the Civil Rights Movement in the Collection such as the 1968 Sanitation Workers Strike Collection. Working with the University of Memphis libraries and others, the Hooks Institute is a major research center for the study of the Civil Rights Movement.

Hooks Lecture Series.
The Hooks Institute sponsors lectures, discussions and analyses of civil and human rights, as well as social justice issues. Talks attract a range of community groups, prominent scholars, policymakers, and community leaders in Memphis. These provocative discussions underscore the role that ethnicity, race, class, and gender play in this nation’s social, economic, and political development.
For university students, most of whom were born a decade or more after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the lectures reveal issues that affect their daily lives, but which are often treated as artifacts of a distant past. For community members, the lectures offer continuing education and affirm the Institute’s commitment to building a stronger and more just community.

Hooks Symposia.
The annual Hooks Symposia on Social Change—which are free and open to the public—bring prominent scholars, government officials and community leaders together with students and faculty to discuss dimensions of the Civil Rights Movement and its legacy, along with issues of comparative social movements, urban political leadership and human rights. The Institute links these annual public symposia with academic research workshops. Papers presented during these conferences are published on the Hooks Institute website and in scholarly journals.

Civil Rights and Public Education.
Dr. Hooks wants all children to understand the role of the Movement in transforming social norms regarding racial equality. The Institute supports ongoing educational activities that teach students about Dr. Hooks’ work as a minister, attorney, judge and civil rights activist. By examining the dedication of the activists who were committed to building a more inclusive nation, students are more able to grasp the sacrifices and significance that were made during that time. The Institute also believes that teaching children about the Civil Rights Movement will inspire their insights and energize their own talents to serve their families, their communities and their nation.

Hooks Research Initiatives.
The Hooks Institute financially supports faculty and student research on issues that demand greater understanding in order to reduce racial, social and economic disparities. The institute sponsors research that relies upon data obtained locally, and encourages faculty to evaluate how their findings can solve these problems in other communities.

Hooks Scholars in Residence.
The Institute periodically sponsors Visiting Scholars, and Visiting Fellows, to support periods of in-depth research, study and completion of works. Persons invited to study at the Institute must be working on projects that advance the mission of the Institute.

Hooks Graduate Assistant Positions.
Each year the Hooks Institute creates a graduate assistant staff position for an outstanding student with a commitment to social change. Graduate students assist Institute staff in developing outreach programs, work with faculty on Institute projects, and receive extensive exposure to Institute guests, including national figures and noted community activists. The richness of the experience prepares students to become leaders for change in their communities.