BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Keynote Luncheon Featuring Terrence Roberts, Ph. D.

Dr. Terrence Roberts was one of the "Little Rock Nine", a group of African-American students who, in 1957, were the first black students ever to attend classes at Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Dr. Roberts was 15 years old when he entered Little Rock Central High school as a junior. After the group made several attempts to attend Central High in the fall of 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered federal troops to the school. A soldier was assigned to protect each African American student, but Roberts recalls he suffered physical and verbal abuse on a daily basis throughout the school year.

Today is very different from 1957, but the echoes of Little Rock still inform our decisions. This lecture serves to open and continue the conversation about race, one of the most salient and confusing topics of our culture. RSVP is suggested, but not required: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/V9VV553

Dr. Roberts and his fellow students received the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP in 1958, and the Congressional Gold Medal, the United States' highest civilian honor, in 1999. Dr. Roberts is a frequent speaker on civil rights and diversity and is a regular speaker at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Dr. Roberts is CEO of Terrence J. Roberts & Associates, a management consultant firm devoted to fair and equitable practices. A graduate of California State University at Los Angeles (BA) and UCLA (MSW), Dr. Roberts obtained his Ph.D. In psychology from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. He has appeared on The Newshour, Tavis Smiley and the BBC, among others.