Top of page

Film, Video Race in America: 2019 National Book Festival

Transcript: TEXT

About this Item

Title

  • Race in America: 2019 National Book Festival

Summary

  • Henry Louis Gates Jr. discussed "Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy and the Rise of Jim Crow," Judge Richard Gergel discussed "Unexampled Courage: The Blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the Awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring" and Steve Luxenberg discussed "Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America's Journey from Slavery to Segregation" at the 2019 Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.

Event Date

  • August 31, 2019

Notes

  • -  Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. An award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic and institution builder, Gates has written or co-written 22 books and created 18 documentary films, including "Finding Your Roots." His six-part PBS documentary, "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross," earned an Emmy Award for Outstanding Historical Program-Long Form, as well as a Peabody Award, Alfred I. du Pont-Columbia University Award and an NAACP Image Award. Gates's new book for young people (with Tonya Bolden) is "Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow." His new book for adults is "Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy and the Rise of Jim Crow."
  • -  U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel presides in the same courthouse in Charleston, South Carolina, where Judge Waties Waring once served. Waring is one of the central figures of Gergel's new book, "Unexampled Courage: The Blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the Awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring." A native of Columbia, South Carolina, Gergel earned undergraduate and law degrees from Duke University. With his wife, Dr. Belinda Gergel, he is the author of "In Pursuit of the Tree of Life: A History of the Early Jews of Columbia, South Carolina." Richard Gergel was a presiding judge in the trial of Dylann Roof, who was convicted of 33 federal charges relating to the Charleston church shooting in 2015.
  • -  Steve Luxenberg is an associate editor at The Washington Post and award-winning author. During his forty years as an editor and reporter, Steve has overseen reporting that has earned many national honors, including two Pulitzer Prizes. His new nonfiction book is "Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America's Journey from Slavery to Segregation." It was named a New York Times Editor's Choice, and has been longlisted for the 2019 Cundill History Prize, to be announced later this year. As a work in progress, "Separate" won the 2016 J. Anthony Lukas Award for excellence in nonfiction. The Lukas jury said, "Steve Luxenberg's interwoven narrative takes the story in a new direction, providing illuminating answers to fundamental questions ... This is 'big history,' deeply researched and well told." His first book was the critically-acclaimed "Annie's Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret," about his mother's decision to hide the existence of a sister with physical and mental disabilities. He lives in Baltimore.

Running Time

  • 1 hours 33 seconds

Online Format

  • video
  • image
  • online text

Rights & Access

While the Library of Congress created most of the videos in this collection, they include copyrighted materials that the Library has permission from rightsholders to present.  Rights assessment is your responsibility.  The written permission of the copyright owners in materials not in the public domain is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. There may also be content that is protected under the copyright or neighboring-rights laws of other nations.  Permissions may additionally be required from holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights). Whenever possible, we provide information that we have about copyright owners and related matters in the catalog records, finding aids and other texts that accompany collections. However, the information we have may not be accurate or complete.

More about Copyright and other Restrictions

For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources.

Credit Line: Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Race in America:National Book Festival. 2019. Video. https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-8897/.

APA citation style:

(2019) Race in America:National Book Festival. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-8897/.

MLA citation style:

Race in America:National Book Festival. 2019. Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/webcast-8897/>.