Tuesday, March 25, 2003

WILMINGTON, NC – Noted civil rights leader Dr. Benjamin Hooks will present “Dark and Difficult Days Ahead” at 7 p.m., Monday, April 14, in Kenan Auditorium at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Dr. Hooks was scheduled to speak in January at the annual King commemoration. His talk was canceled due to inclement weather.

Hooks, an ordained Baptist minister, served as executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1977 to 1992. Prior to heading the NAACP, Hooks was the first black appointee to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Named by President Richard Nixon in 1972, Hooks addressed the lack of minority ownership of television and radio stations, the minority employment statistics for the broadcasting industry and the image of blacks in the mass media. While Hooks was with the FCC, minority employment in broadcasting rose from three percent to 15 percent.

Born Jan. 31, 1925, in Memphis, Tenn., Hooks attended LeMoyne College and Howard University. He earned a law degree from DePaul University in 1948. Following graduation, he returned to Memphis, where he practiced from 1949 to 1965. In addition, he served as a producer and host for television programs including Conversations in Black and White and Forty Percent Speaks. Hooks is a member of the American Bar Association, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Tennessee Council on Human Relations. In 1986, he received the NAACP’s Springarn Medal, an annual award for outstanding achievement by a black American.

Admission to this lecture, sponsored by the Office of Campus Diversity, is free and open to the public. Tickets are required and are available at the auditorium box office by calling (910) 962-3500. Tickets for the Jan. 23 lecture will not be honored.