Chicago, IL.—- The DuSable Museum of African American History pays tribute to journalist, Lerone Bennett, Jr., Executive Editor Emeritus of Ebony Magazine with a special exhibit entitled, WISDOM OF WORDS: Lerone Bennett Jr., The People’s Historian. The exhibition runs through Sunday, June 1, 2008 at the Museum, which is located at 740 East 56th Place (57th Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue) in Chicago.
WISDOM OF WORDS: Lerone Bennett Jr., The People’s Historian, spans Bennett’s 50 + year career at Johnson Publishing Company; from Associate Editor of JET Magazine in 1953, to Associate Editor for Ebony Magazine in 1954, Senior Editor in 1958, Executive Editor in 1987, and Executive Editor Emeritus upon his retirement in 2003. Often called “the people’s historian,” Bennett is a trusted and revered scholar who has authored more than ten books documenting the historical forces shaping the Black experience in the United States.
Included in the exhibit are photos from Bennett’s career, copies of his books including his first, Before The Mayflower: A History of Black America, which American Legacy magazine called “one of the most popular single-volume histories of Blacks ever written,” numerous awards, personal items like a clarinet he played as a member of the Duke Bennett Jazz Orchestra during high school, and rarely seen vintage copies of JET and Ebony Magazines. Visitors will also see on video, the inspiring last interview of the late Ebony and JET Founder, Publisher and Chairman, John H. Johnson conducted by Mr. Bennett.
When the MAN, the MOMENT and the MOVEMENT meet, what results is a force of nature like Mississippi’s native son, journalist, author and historian Lerone Bennett Jr. The author, who calls himself a “witness-participant” to the Civil Rights Movement, was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi and moved with his family at an early age to Jackson, Mississippi. He graduated from Lanier High School in 1945 and began his career as a teen-age reporter for the Jackson Advocate and the Mississippi Enterprise. After graduating from Atlanta’s Morehouse College, (Martin Luther King, Jr. was a classmate) he served as City Editor of the Atlanta Daily World, where he worked until he came to Chicago and began his career with Johnson Publishing Company.
Lerone Bennett Jr. received numerous honors for his work, including the Literature Award of the Academy of Arts and Letters, Book of the Year Award from Capital Press Club, the Patron Saints Award, and the 2003 DuSable Museum Chicago African American History Makers Award. President Bill Clinton appointed him to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and President George W. Bush appointed him to the Presidential Commission on the proposed National Museum of African American History and Culture. He has received more than fourteen Honorary Degrees from a number of institutions, including the University of Illinois, Howard University, Boston University, Tuskegee University, Dillard University, Marquette University and Morehouse College. In 2007 he was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame.
WISDOM OF WORDS: Lerone Bennett Jr. The People’s Historian, was made possible in part by Johnson Publishing Company, the Chicago Park District, the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, Clear Channel Radio and Alphawood Foundation. This exhibition marks the third exhibition in the DuSable Museum’s Chicago African American History Makers series; previous exhibitions include A Life in Art: Margaret Burroughs and Cirilo McSween Meets King.
The DuSable Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM and Sunday from 12:00 NOON until 5:00 PM. Admission is $3 for adults, $2 for students and senior citizens, $1 for children ages 6 through 12 and children under the age of 6 are free. Sundays are FREE to all. The Museum may be reached by CTA buses #3, #4 and #55 and free parking is also available on the premises.
The DuSable Museum of African American History, the first institution of its kind in the country, has been dedicated to the collection, preservation, interpretation and dissemination of the history and culture of Africans and Americans of African descent for more than 46 years. For more information on the Museum and its programs, please call 773-947-0600 or you may visit the website at http://www.dusablemuseum.org.
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