On the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the College of Charleston Friends of the Library will host Todd Purdum, author of An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for the Winthrop Roundtable.
Purdum, a top journalist who has covered Washington D.C. news for almost a quarter of a century, will recount the dramatic political battle to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, recreating the legislative maneuvering and the larger-than-life characters who made its passage possible. Often hailed as the most important law of the past century, the Civil Rights Act stands as a lesson for our own troubled times about what is possible when patience, bipartisanship, and decency rule the day.
RELATED: Listen to Purdum talk about the 50th anniversary on NPR.
Purdum is senior writer at Politico and contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Prior to these posts, he worked for The New York Times for 23 years, serving as diplomatic correspondent and Los Angeles bureau chief.
Charleston’s meaningful role in the Civil Rights movement makes Purdum’s visit on the golden anniversary of this critical piece of legislation in United States history timely.
“For two decades after World War II determined African American activists and their allies pressured the state of South Carolina to dismantle its system of racial apartheid,” said John W. White, a civil rights scholar and Dean of Libraries at the College of Charleston. “Progressive reformers were able, through a combination of legal and direct action campaigns, to expose cracks in the façade of white supremacy, but it was only after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that South Carolina’s white leadership began dismantling the legal edifice of Jim Crow. The Civil Rights Act was an important milestone that legitimized the efforts of civil rights activists and gave them a new weapon in the struggle for equality.”
In a March 2014 interview with Vanity Fair, Purdum said, “I think the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is certainly one of the two or three most important laws of the 20th century – if not the very most important. And it is one of a tiny handful of the most important actions ever taken by the Federal Government since adoption of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.”
“…the 1964 act finally forced the country to face up to the central promise of its founding creed, that all people really are created equal, and deserve to be treated equally – in law, if not always in fact.”
During his visit to Charleston, Purdum will speak with community members who were active in the Civil Rights movement in Charleston during a luncheon at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. He will also speak to College of Charleston students in a moderated-style lecture with Armand Derfner, civil rights attorney, at 4 p.m. in Randolph Hall. All events are by invitation only.
The Winthrop Roundtable, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary with Purdum’s appearance, is the Friends of the Library’s signature spring event. Every year, the Roundtable showcases a renowned speaker in a keynote address related to current events or cultural exchange, with the intent of inciting thought-provoking discourse and showcasing unique viewpoints to our community. The keynote address is preceded by a cocktail reception and followed by a seated dinner, so there are plenty of opportunities for guest to mix and mingle with one another and the speaker.