Lecture focuses on curbing racial fear

Mary France Berry, chairperson of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, will address a program at East Carolina University on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Her address, “Curbing the Exploitation of Racial Fear,” is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Mendenhall Student Center. The public is invited. Berry was the assistant secretary for education in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare during President Jimmy Carter’s administration. Prior to that post, she served as provost of the University of Maryland, College Park, and chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Currently, she is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania where she teaches history and law. She has appeared on numerous television news programs and is one of the founders of the Free South Africa Movement.

Berry has written seven books, holds 27 honorary doctoral degrees and has received numerous awards for public service and scholarly activities. Among the awards are the NAACP’s Roy Wilkins Award, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Rosa Parks Award and the “Ebony” magazine Black Achievement Award. Her visit to Greenville is sponsored through the ECU Race Relations Program in cooperation with Governor Jim Hunt’s “Initiative on Race.” Under the program, ECU has scheduled lectures, forums and cultural arts productions have been scheduled during the spring semester to examine race, relationships and the role of individuals , institutions and communities.

The programs are free and open to public.