Civil Rights Activist Charlie Cobb, Jr. Visits Washington College

CHESTERTOWN – Renowned journalist, activist and author Charles E. Cobb, Jr., a guiding force in the 1960s struggle for civil rights, visited Washington College on Tuesday, November 3rd to present a talk titled “From Freedom Summer to Barack Obama” at the college’s Casey Academic Center Forum.

Cobb’s lecture and book signing was sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, the Black Studies Program, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Now renowned as a distinguished and award-winning journalist, Cobb spent his early years on the frontline of the Civil Rights Movement. From 1962 to 1967 he worked as a field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the Mississippi Delta and was a major architect of the Freedom School program that became a crucial part of the famous 1964 Freedom Summer.

Mr. Cobb is the author of On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail (Algonquin Books, 2008), a firsthand account of the movement told through in-depth exploration of the churches, courthouses, and public squares in which activists challenged centuries of racial discrimination.

A founding member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Cobb began his journalism career in 1974 as a reporter for WHUR Radio in Washington, D.C. In 1976 he joined the staff of National Public Radio as a foreign affairs reporter, bringing to that network its first regular coverage of Africa.

In 2008 the National Association of Black Journalists honored Cobb’s work by inducting him into their Hall of Fame. View “From Freedom Summer to Barack Obama” event photos.

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About the Starr Center
The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience explores our nation’s history – and particularly the legacy of its Founding era – in innovative ways. Through educational programs, scholarship, and public outreach, and especially by supporting and fostering the art of written history, the Starr Center seeks to bridge the divide between past and present, and between the academic world and the public at large. From its base in the circa-1746 Custom House along Chestertown’s colonial waterfront, the Center also serves as a portal onto a world of opportunities for Washington College students. Its guiding principle is that now more than ever, a wider understanding of our shared past is fundamental to the continuing success of America’s democratic experiment. For more information on the Center, visit http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.