With 50 years of perspective, how has the Kennedy assassination affected Dallas? That will be the topic of conversation at “Understanding Tragedy: the Impact of the JFK Assassination on Dallas,” a symposium being presented by the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. The event will take place Nov. 2 and is a partnership with The Dallas Morning News, KERA, UNT’s Mayborn School of Journalism, the Ochberg Society for Trauma Journalism and The Sixth Floor Museum. KERA-TV will air a one-hour special about the symposium the week of the assassination anniversary.
All the details are below:
Dallas, July 9, 2013: November 22, 2013, marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, an event that affected Dallas and the entire nation for decades to come. On Saturday, November 2, 2013, the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, along with its program partners, will present a daylong symposium for the city, “Understanding Tragedy: the Impact of the JFK Assassination on Dallas,” that will bring national and local leaders and experts together to explore the topic with Dallas citizens. In advance of the Symposium, the Ochberg Society for Trauma Journalism will offer two preview discussion panels on Friday, November 1, at the Sixth Floor Museum.
Partnering with the Dallas Institute are The Dallas Morning News, KERA TV and KERA 90.1 FM, UNT’s Mayborn School of Journalism, the Ochberg Society for Trauma Journalism, and The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. KERA TV will be airing a one-hour special of the Symposium the week of the 50th anniversary.
Veteran journalists Jim Lehrer and Lee Cullum, award-winning author Richard Rodriguez, U.S. Secret Service Director Julia Pierson (the agency’s first woman director), leading political, ethics and law intellectual Stephen Carter and many others will convene on Saturday to discuss the impact of the assassination from four perspectives: Journalism; Politics; Art and the Humanities; and Religion. The Symposium will take place 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. at the Southside Ballroom (formerly the Palladium) on South Lamar Street near downtown Dallas.
According to planners, the Symposium will be not a tribute to or eulogy for Kennedy but rather an in-depth revisiting of what many consider to have been the most significant occurrence within the U.S. of the last half of the 20th Century.
“President Kennedy certainly had his opponents, but he was also widely regarded as a bright, young hope of the future, and his death changed the course of our city and our nation,” said Dallas Institute executive director Dr. Larry Allums. “On this anniversary, we feel it is the right time to glance back over the past fifty years and reflect together on the assassination and its aftermath, taking what we might learn into the future with us.”
“We are pleased with this partnership,” added Dallas Morning News editor Bob Mong, “in that each of us is committed to a thoughtful, reflective, and candid discussion about how the city was reshaped by the assassination.”
For more information, go to www.dallasinstitute.org. The event is open to the public, and tickets go on sale mid September at the Dallas Institute; until then, reservations can be made in advance with the Institute Registrar at (214) 981-8803.
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