Rev. Dr. Wheeler Parker Jr. and Jerry Mitchell spoke on campus Oct. 14, 2025 as part of the American Studies Institute's Distinguished Lecture Series.
Seventy years ago, on Aug. 28, 1955, Rev. Dr. Wheeler Parker Jr.’s cousin, Emmett Till, was brutally murdered and lynched. Despite a confession from the killers, no one was ever found guilty for the crime. Rev. Dr. Parker shares his eyewitness account across the country in pursuit of historical accuracy and truth.
Two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, MacArthur Fellow and 1982 Harding graduate Jerry Mitchell leads the investigative reporting team for Mississippi Today and has helped put four Klansmen and a serial killer behind bars as well as helping free two people from death row.
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