GASTONIA He's known as a minister of racial reconciliation on the front lines of civil rights.

The Rev. Vernon Tyson is also a key character in the memoir "Blood Done Sign My Name," written by his son, Duke University professor Timothy Tyson.

It's the true story of the allegedly racially motivated killing of a 23-year-old black Vietnam-era veteran in Oxford, N.C., in 1970 and the racial unrest that followed. A Methodist minister, Vernon Tyson worked to heal the community and preached a message of racial harmony from the pulpit.

On Sunday, Tyson, 82, of Raleigh will lead a question-and-answer session following a free public showing of the 2009 movie version of the book. The film was directed by Gastonia native Jeb Stuart and portions were shot in Gaston County.

The program at Gaston College is part of a two-day community outreach event, sponsored by the Gaston Clergy & Citizens Coalition, an initiative of Gaston Together, and The Alliance for Children & Youth/Communities in Schools.

"What I'd like to see come from this is more awareness of opportunities to work together," said Dwayne Burks, outreach committee chairman and member of the Clergy & Citizens Coalition. "Another thing I'd like to see is some healing and cooperation between the Latino and African-American communities."

As site coordinator with Communities in Schools, Burks works in middle schools and hears students "saying some of the things we said as teenagers that might be considered racist. We need to close that circle."

Also, he said the outreach event will recognize civil rights leaders who helped Gaston avoid some of the violent conflicts like the one that occurred in Oxford.

"We want to celebrate our successes," Burks said. "We want to learn from our struggles and the struggles of other communities to be more unified."

'We had pride'

In addition to Sunday's Q&A, Tyson will attend a clergy breakfast Monday morning at Gaston Memorial Hospital. At 10:30 a.m., he'll take part in a panel discussion and webinar for Gaston County high school students.

Belmont Mayor Richard Boyce will moderate the panel discussion. Participants will include former state senator Marshall Rauch, retired educator and 2012 Gaston County Martin Luther King Unity Award recipient Peggie Ferguson, associate pastor Judith Ayala of RCDM Ministries, and Gaston County Schools Superintendent Reeves McGlohon.

Ferguson wants to share with young people stories from black neighborhoods reaching back to the 1940s, '50s and '60s "when we had insights of where we wanted to go and who we wanted to be."

People like T. Jeffers, a high school principal, Gastonia City Council member and first African-American mayor.

Or people like Nathaniel Barber, Gastonia's first African-American city council member. Barber was also executive director of a credit union that financed black students going to college.

Boyce hopes the event will be a chance to "relearn some of our recent history."

Also, discussions about race "will provide an opportunity for talking about other potential divisions and avoid some future explosions," he said.

Boyce, who uses the book "Blood Done Sign My Name" in a "Race and the Bible" class he co-teaches at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, said having Vernon Tyson at the Gaston event is a "real honor."

"He's a hero in the history of race relations in the state," said Boyce.

Reaching out

A native of eastern North Carolina, Tyson has been a Methodist minister since 1952.

Looking back on the events depicted in the film, Tyson said, "I didn't mean to live the story. I was just doing what I thought was wise under the circumstances."

His involvement in civil rights issues predated the Oxford troubles.

"You have to establish relationships not just in the crisis time," Tyson said.

He recalled a suggestion from Harry Golden, editor of Charlotte-based Carolina Israelite, during the turbulent times of sit-ins in the South: Take all the seats out of restaurants; then everybody has to stand up together.

"God made us all in his image and after his likeness," Tyson said. "How dare we despise any person God has made?"

His hope for the Gaston outreach is that "we'll use the time to take a good look at ourselves and the community. And see if there is some way to improve ourselves and the community."