On Saturday, Sept. 19, Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History Dr. John Kirk, director of the UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity, will conduct a book signing as part of the ACANSA Arts Festival. The signing is scheduled to occur before the performance of “Blood at the Root” — a play based on Jena 6-related events in Louisiana — at the Argenta Community Theater.

Kirk also will be featured at 8 a.m. Saturday on KATV Channel 7’s Daybreak along with Leatrice Russ Glenns, the sister of Carnell Russ, whose death Kirk wrote about in the Arkansas Times and Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Kirk plans a longer article on the topic this fall in Arkansas Historical Quarterly.

In addition, Kirk and Glenns are scheduled to appear on KTHV Channel 11’s morning show on Thursday, Sept. 24, to discuss the Russ case and to promote Carnell Russ Community Unity Day Sept. 26 in Star City. Kirk will speak during the event, as he has the past four years.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, at the Institute on Race and Ethnicity, Sanderia Faye will conduct a book reading/signing of her first novel, “Mourner’s Bench.” The book is based on events in Gould, Arkansas, during the civil rights-movement era. The institute is located in Suite 202 on the second floor of the Ottenheimer Library on the UALR campus.