March 5, 2007

MINNEAPOLIS – Fifty years after the Civil Rights Movement, far too many African American communities, and especially children in those communities, are losing ground.

Robert M. Franklin, author of Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities, will address these issues when he speaks at the Leadership Center at Morehouse College on Thursday, March 15.

He will be joined by guest panelists:

• Mr. Tommy Dortch, Chairman and CEO of TWD, Inc., former president of 100 Black Men of America

• Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Director of the Women's Research and Resource Center at Spelman College

• Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, Convenor, GA Coalition for the People's Agenda and Former President, Southern Christian Leadership Conference

• The Honorable Leah Sears, Chief Justice of GA Supreme Court

• Rev. Dr. CT Vivian, Civil Rights Icon and Chairman, Center for Democratic Renewal

There leading intellectuals, activists, and jurists will try how best to recapture the spirit last experienced during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

In response to Robert Franklin's astute and provocative analysis of the state of Black America in his programmatic work in Crisis in the Village, panelists will address crises resident in three anchor institutions of the Black community: the Black family, Black churches, and historically Black colleges and universities that have played a key role in the Black struggle for freedom.

As Dr. Franklin and the panel come together on the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's speech against the Vietnam war, they will address the continued viability of Dr. King's notion of "the Beloved Community" and how best to recapture and reclaim the values, collective vision and traditions of the African-American past for a successful prologue of hope for the future.

"Robert Franklin's Crisis in the Village is a bracing and bold call for spiritual and social healing in the black community. With characteristic clarity and eloquence, Franklin challenges the entire black world, and the broader society alike, to marshal its resources to address the critical issues confronting black folk today. Franklin's brilliant scholarly intervention is both timely and necessary, and should be read by all who desire to help bear, and relieve, the burden of the black vulnerable." – Michael Eric Dyson, author of Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?

"Franklin artfully petitions us to rediscover, reawaken and resume traditions and values of a cultural ethic that created generations of great thinkers and doers, and guided the African American community to overcome when it appeared, by most standards, there was no way out of our despair. Crisis in the Village is an inspiring strategic plan for rebuilding intra-community excellence and social accountability that promises to re-energize ‘sleeping giants.'" – Ambassador Andrew Young, President, Goodworks International, Atlanta, GA, Past President of the National Council of Churches, and author of A Way Out of No Way and An Easy Burden.

Dr. Franklin and distinguished panel will speak at The Leadership Center of Morehouse College Auditorium, 830 Westview Drive, SW, in Atlanta on Thursday, March 15 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. A book signing and reception will follow the program. The event is free and open to the public. For further information about the event contact: LaKetha D. Hudson, 404-681-2800 x2731.

Robert M. Franklin is Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics at Emory University. A scholar-preacher and insightful educator, he has also served at the University of Chicago, Harvard Divinity School, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, and the Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta, as well as at the Ford Foundation. His prior books from Fortress Press include Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African-American Thought (1990, 0-8006-2392-4) and Another Day's Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis (1997, 0-8006-3096-3). A frequent commentator on public radio's "All Things Considered" he lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities, By Robert M. Franklin, Item Number: 978-0-8006-3887-0, Price: $15.00 / CAN $18.00 / UK £8.99, 5.5" x 8.5," paperback, 208 pages.

To order Crisis in the Village call Augsburg Fortress at 1-800-328-4648 or visit the Web site at http://www.augsburgfortress.org/.

Fortress Press