Author of ‘The Wilmington Ten’ to speak at Johnson C. Smith | Charlotte Observer

Kenneth Janken, who wrote “The Wilmington Ten: Violence, Injustice and the Rise of Black Politics in the 1970s,” will talk about this most controversial case in North Carolina civil rights history from 6:30-8:00 p.m., Wednesday, in the Grimes Student Lounge at Johnson C. Smith University.

Janken, who is a professor in the department of African, African American and Diaspora Studies at UNC Chapel Hill, unravels the complexity of local, state and fedral officials’ illegal machinations to convict 10 innocent civil rights activists in 1971. Although the convictions were overturned, the case did not end in their exonerations until 2012.

Janken will reveal on Wednesday, as he does in his book, the story of the extent of the prosecutorial misconduct and the connections between that misconduct and law enforcement.

Janken appears courtesy of the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room and the James B. Duke Memorial Library.

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