The Trotter Group, an organization of distinguished black journalists from around the country, is meeting at Jackson State University at the invitation of the Department of Mass Communications.
Today, the group, along with journalism and College of Liberal Arts students and faculty will be hearing a talk by actor/producer/director Tim Reid at 9 a.m. at the Liberal Arts Building auditorium. He will be leading a session titled “The Entertainment Industry Needs You: How Journalists Can Become TV Writers and Screenwriters.”
He will be followed at 10:45 by Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author Les Payne on the life of Malcolm X.
Comprised of top columnists and opinion makers, the Trotter Group gathers once a year to discuss current events and ensure important local, regional and national black stories are told.
“To host and have these luminaries in their field to meet at Jackson State University is a coup for the university,” said Dr. James C. Renick, provost and senior vice president for academic and student affairs.
“Students and faculty can benefit greatly from their presence,” Renick said.
Reid is best known as an actor for his very hip role of “Venus Flytrap” on TV’s “WKRP in Cincinnati.” He has directed television programs and films and owns his own production studio.
Payne is a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists.
The Trotter Group is named after William Monroe Trotter, publisher of the black-owned Boston Guardian newspaper, who challenged President Woodrow Wilson in the last century.
According to The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, Trotter had supported Wilson’s election, but segregation and lynching were worse than ever. Trotter asked Wilson where he stood.
“Wilson replied: ‘Segregation is not humiliating, but a benefit. … Your manner offends me.’ A 45-minute argument ensued during which Trotter said: ‘Two years ago, you were regarded as a second Abraham Lincoln. … Now we colored leaders [who supported Wilson] are denounced in the colored churches as traitors to our race.
“The argument made the front page of The New York Times.”
The group arrived Sunday and has attended a number of presentations by JSU faculty. They included “What You Don’t Know or Understand about Racial Politics in Mississippi” by Dr. Robert Luckett, director of JSU’s Margaret Walker Center for the Study of the African-American Experience.
Tuesday’s sessions will include presentations on the black vote during the midterm elections, among other issues, and tours of historic sites such as the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) building, the Smith-Robertson Museum, the Medgar Evers home, Farish Street, and the Greyhound Bus Station where Freedom Riders were arrested during the civil rights struggle.
The group is scheduled to leave Wednesday.