News
Press Releases
Contact: Marilynn Fryer
(517) 796-8466
e-mail: FryerMarilynT@jccmi.edu
09/22/04
For immediate release

Explore War Memorials, Iraq War, Hitler & more at JCC October Programs

Jackson Community College has a host of historical presentations and workshops planned for October.  The following programs are scheduled:

Monuments to Freedom/The War Memorials, 1 p.m., Oct. 6-7, Federer Room A, Potter Center.  "The War Memorials" is a touching reminder of the great costs our nation has suffered in defending the cause of freedom.  How did controversy and racism almost derail the Vietnam Memorial?  This story and others are told in full in "The War Memorials."  From the unforgettable sight of Arlington's endless white crosses, on land that was once Robert E. Lee's estate, to the stirring sculpture of the Iwo Jima Memorial, "The War Memorials" examines our heroic tributes.

"Freedom Summer"/Murder in Mississippi/The Price of Freedom, 1 p.m., Oct. 13-14, Federer Room A, Potter Center.  In the summer of 1964, "Freedom Summer," hundreds of northern white and black students traveled to Mississippi to help blacks register to vote.  This summer touched off a ground swell of marches and demonstrations that gave birth to the Civil Rights Movement.  This Emmy-winning documentary shows some of the events leading up to that summer - the 1954 Supreme Court ruling on the integration of public schools; President Eisenhower's use of troops to enforce that ruling; passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957; the effort to keep James Meredith out of the University of Mississippi; the assassination of Medgar Evers; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; and the discovery of the bodies of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman.  The program combines documentary footage and interviews with some of the participants.  Retrace the dramatic events of that summer, and examine how the murders of three young men by the Ku Klux Klan shocked the nation and changed the course of civil rights movement forever.

Seymour Hersh: Can We Win the War on Terror? 6:30 p.m., Oct. 13, Federer Room B, Potter Center.  The investigative reporter who exposed the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and authored the book "Chain of Command: the Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib," provides a revealing and unflinching look behind the public story of the "war on terror," the intelligence failures, and the lies and obsessions that led America into Iraq.  Thirty-five years ago, Seymour Hersh established himself at the forefront of investigative journalism with an expose of the massacre in My Lai, Vietnam, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize.  Ever since, he's been a relentless thorn in the side of America's power elite, plumbing Washington back channels and the intelligence community for the stories that others can't or won't tell.  In the crises that followed the September 11th attacks, how did America get from the morning when hijackers crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to a war in Iraq?  Hersh discusses his pursuit of the Abu Ghraib piece and where, he believes, responsibility for the scandal ultimately lies.

The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler, 6:30 p.m., Oct. 14, Federer Room B, Potter Center.  Adolf Hitler was a failed artist whose love of beauty turned into a hunger for destruction.  As a man, he was a marginal soldier who soon became the commander of one of the most horrific war machines ever unleashed.  Presented in six parts, this is the definitive history of Hitler, exposing many widely held myths.  Extensive commentary from world-renowned scholars, recently discovered documents, archival footage from former Soviet Bloc nations and riveting eyewitness testimony are combined in this landmark series.  Explore reasons for the Germans' refusal to surrender even when their fate was obvious to the entire world.  And see how Hitler's dependence on his underlings led to some of the most radical policies of Nazi Germany.

  • Oct. 14 - Part one: The Private Man:  A youth that was marked by failure.  As a leader, Hitler's "all or nothing" strategic outlook would ultimately lead to his destruction.  Former generals recall how Hitler would disregard the advice of his military advisors.
  • Oct. 14 - Part two: The Seducer:  Hitler's greatest gift as a leader was his ability to influence the masses.  He captivated people by playing on their emotions and by providing a spectacle of power in a nation drained by its defeat in World War I.

    • The Book Club @ JCC: "The Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison, 2 p.m., Oct. 15, Federer Room A, Potter Center: This is the journey of a black man attempting to discover his identity and role in a hostile and confusing world that refuses to acknowledge his existence.  This is an incisive portrait of an individual's quest for identity, and a powerful indictment of the absurdity of racism that remains fresh and relevant today.