The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will host two events commemorating the 62^nd anniversary of the desegregation crisis at Little Rock Central High School in partnership with the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site.

The UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law will host a conscience conversation at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, in the Friday Courtroom. Featured speakers will discuss their roles in the civil rights movement.

They include Rev. Peter Johnson, a member of the NAACP and Southern Christian Leadership Conference activist who worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; Sterling Plumpp, a poet, author, educator, and critic; and Judge Wiley Branton Jr., an Arkansas circuit judge.

Omavi Shukur, a civil rights attorney and former legal clerk at the Equal Justice Initiative, will facilitate a conversation on applied strategies, impact on communities, and activism today.

In the second event, a conscience conversation with members of the Little Rock Nine will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Donaghey Student Center Ledbetter Hall.

The speakers include Elizabeth Eckford, author and member of the Little Rock Nine; Jane Hill Williams, one of the original 10 students selected to desegregate Central High School in 1957; and Dr. Sybil Jordan Hampton, the first three-year African American graduate of Central High School.

Dr. Terrence Roberts, psychologist and one of the Little Rock Nine, will facilitate a conversation of the impact of the desegregation crisis, examine the speakers’ narrative roles in the civil rights movement, and discuss their activism today.

J.A. Fair High School band, choir, and theater students will perform a selection of civil rights-themed songs to begin the program, while a book signing will follow this event.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, call 501-374-1957.