A University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor will be one of five panelists discussing crisis media coverage during the integration of Little Rock’s Central High School in 1957. 

One of the panelists is Dr. John Kirk, the George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History and director of the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity. He is also a commentator on civil rights history on KUAR 89.1 FM in Little Rock.

The panel, “The Central High Crisis and the Press – A Media Critique 60 Years On,” will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13, at the Darragh Center Auditorium in the Central Arkansas Library System Main Library, 100 S. Rock St. in downtown Little Rock. Admission is free and open to the public.

The event, which is organized by the Society of Professional Journalists Arkansas Pro Chapter, is one of many events commemorating the 60th anniversary of the integration of Central High School.

Additional panelists include:

• Phyllis Brandon, a former reporter and editor for the Arkansas Democrat and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
• Ernie Dumas, a columnist with the Arkansas Times and a former reporter and editor for the Arkansas Gazette.
• Bill Lewis, a former Arkansas Gazette reporter.
• Tafi Mukunyadzi, a reporter with The Associated Press.

Brandon, Dumas, and Lewis all worked as reporters at Little Rock’s daily newspapers in 1957 and helped to cover the events.