The Southern Regional Council (SRC), founded in 1919 to combat racial injustice, established the Lillian Smith Book Awards in 1966 to recognize writing which extends the legacy of the outspoken writer who challenged all Americans on issues of social and racial justice.
Since 2004 the awards have been presented by SRC in a partnership with the University of Georgia Libraries, whose Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library houses a historic collection of Lillian Smith's letters and manuscripts. Since 2007 this partnership has also included Georgia Center for the Book, and the awards ceremony is now presented on the Sunday of the Labor Day Weekend as part of the Decatur Book Festival in Decatur, Georgia. Excerpts from the 2008 and 2009 awards ceremonies may be viewed through the links on this page and through the Video Bar.
The 2010 awards ceremony will be held at the Decatur Branch of the Dekalb County Public Library on Sunday, September 5th.
The jury for this year's awards is again chaired by Mary A. Twining, emeritus professor of English and Folklore at Clark Atlanta University. Professor Twining previously served on the faculties of a variety of institutions including the University of Kentucky and the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Professor Twining is noted for her study of the Sea Island Communities of Georgia and South Carolina, and their cultural ties to West African culture through language, cultural habits and spirituality. Her published work has included Sea Island Roots: African Presence in the Carolinas and Georgia, which she edited with Keith E. Baird (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press 1991); Names and Naming in the Sea Islands, a contribution to the Crucible of Carolina: Essays in the Development of Gulla Language and Culture, edited by Michael Montgomery and Louise Ferrell, University of Georgia Press, 1994; The New Nomads, Art, Life, and Lure of Migrant workers in New York State, published in The Journal of the New York Folklore Society 1987; and numerous contributions to the Journal of Black Studies.
P. Toby Graham Director, Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library Director, Digital Library University of Georgia
The Southern Regional Council (SRC), founded in 1919 to combat racial injustice, established the Lillian Smith Book Awards in 1966 to recognize writing which extends the legacy of the outspoken writer who challenged all Americans on issues of social and racial justice.
Since 2004 the awards have been presented by SRC in a partnership with the University of Georgia Libraries, whose Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library houses a historic collection of Lillian Smith's letters and manuscripts. Since 2007 this partnership has also included Georgia Center for the Book, and the awards ceremony is now presented on the Sunday of the Labor Day Weekend as part of the Decatur Book Festival in Decatur, Georgia. Excerpts from the 2008 AND 2009 awards ceremonies may be viewed through the links on this page and through the Video Bar. The 2010 awards ceremony will be held at the Decatur Branch of the Dekalb County Public Library on Sunday, September 5th.
This year's jury will once again include Toby Graham, director of the University of Georgia's collaborative digitization program, which partners with libraries, archives, and other institutions to provide online access to key collections on Georgia history and life. Based at the University of Georgia Libraries, the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) is an initiative of GALILEO, Georgia's virtual library. The DLG endeavors to provide a seamless digital library on the state's history and culture connecting users to 105 digital collections from 65 institutions and 100 agencies of government (approx. 500K objects). http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/
Graham is Director of the Hargrett Library at the University of Georgia, which consists of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Georgiana Collection, University Archives, and Records Management.
Graham serves as co-director and principal investigator for the Civil Rights Digital Library (CRDL) initiative (in-process), providing Web-based access to historical news film and related primary sources on the Movement from institutions across the U.S. CRDL also includes an educator resources component designed to aid the use of CRDL in the learning process. CRDL is supported in part by an IMLS National Leadership Grant.
Toby leads digital production for Georgia HomePLACE, a partnership between the Georgia Public Library Service and GALILEO to enhance access to local and family history resources.
Graham oversees the Georgia Newspaper Project (GNP), which microfilms 200 current newspapers on an ongoing basis as well as historical content. The GNP generates approximately 2-3 million pages of microfilmed newsprint annually.
Formerly, Graham served as Head, Special Collections at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
Graham earned his Ph.D. in library and information studies, M.L.S., and M.A. in history at the University of Alabama. He is recipient of the Alabama Author Award for Non-Fiction (2004), ALISE/Eugene Garfield Outstanding Dissertation Award (2000), and Phyllis Dain Library History Dissertation Award (1999). He is author of A Right to Read: Segregation and Civil Rights in Alabama's Public Libraries, 1900-1965.
On May 24, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Lewis v. City of Chicago that a plaintiff who does not file a timely charge challenging the adoption of a discriminatory employment practice can assert a disparate-impact claim in a charge challenging the employer’s subsequent application of that practice.
Under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act a “charge” of discrimination must be filed with the EEOC within 180 days after that the act of discrimination occurred. This 180-day filing deadline is extended to 300 days if the charge also is covered by a state or local anti-discrimination law. After the charge is filed, the EEOC initiates an investigation. The claimant can wait to until the EEOC completes its administrative investigation or the individual can request a “right to sue” letter from the EEOC. A civil action must be filed in the federal district court within 90 days from the receipt of a “right to sue” letter from the EEOC.
In July 1995, the City of Chicago administered a written examination to more than 26,000 applicants seeking employment in the Chicago Fire Department. Those who scored below 65 failed the examination. Those who scored 65-88 were deemed “qualified.” Applicants who scored 89 or higher (out of 100), were designated “well qualified.” The City announced on January 26, 1996, that it would begin drawing randomly from the top tier of scorers, those who scored 89 or above. On May 16, 1996, the City selected its first class of applicants to advance to the next stage of the selection process. It selected a second class on October 1, 1996, and repeated the process nine more times over the next six years.
In 1997, an African American applicant who scored in the “qualified” range and had not been hired as a candidate firefighter filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC. Five others filed charges, and on July 28, 1998, the EEOC issued all six of them right-to-sue letters. Approximately 60 days later, they filed a civil action against the City, claiming that its practice of selecting for advancement only applicants who scored 89 or above had a "disparate impact" on African-American applicants in violation of Title VII.
In a 1971 case, Griggs v. Duke Power Co., the Court held that Title VII forbids not only overt discrimination, but also practices that are fair in form, but have a discriminatory effect. In such cases proof of discriminatory intent is not required. The “disparate impact” theory was codified by the Civil Rights Act of 1991. That law states that a disparate impact is established when a complainant proves that an employer uses an employment practice that excludes a disproportionate percentage of minority applicants and the employer cannot prove that the challenged practice is “job related,” i.e., relevant to the skills needed to perform the job.
In this case the City of Chicago sought to obtain a ruling in its favor on the ground that the Black applicants failed to file EEOC charges within 180 days after the "discriminatory act" occurred. The trial court disagreed, certified a class action and ruled in the Black applicants’ favor. The City of Chicago appealed and the Court of Appeals reversed after finding that the suit was untimely because the EEOC charge was filed more than 300 days after the discriminatory act, which was the decision to limit hiring to applicants who scored 89 or above on the written examination.
The case was appealed to the Supreme Court which unanimously reversed. It held that a plaintiff establishes a prima facie disparate impact claim by showing that an employer “uses a particular employment practice that causes a disparate impact.” In this case, the exclusion of Black applicants who passed the test, but scored below 89, was a new “employment practice” used in each round of selections.
The Lewis decision comes as a bit of a surprise to some observers, as the Roberts Court has not treated claims of discrimination very favorably. In a controversial 2007 decision, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the Court by a slim 5-4 majority rejected as untimely a case in which a female worker was paid less than men but did discover the discrepancy before 180 days after the discriminatory decision was made. That case was criticized because disparities in pay are often undiscovered or difficult to determine, especially since so many employers keep salary and pay information confidential. The effect of the Court's holding in Ledbetter was reversed by the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009. Under Lewis, every use of an unlawful employment practice that has a disparate impact is a new violation of Title VII. This will make it easier for complainants to file timely claims.
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About the Author:
Leland Ware, a member of the Board of the Southern Regional Council, is Louis B. Redding Chair and Professor for the Study of Law and Public Policy at the University of Delaware.
l Council (SRC), founded in 1919 to combat racial injustice, established the Lillian Smith Book Awards in 1966 to recognize writing which extends the legacy of the outspoken writer who challenged all Americans on issues of social and racial justice.
again chaired by Mary A. Twining, emeritus professor of English and Folklore at Clark Atlanta University. Professor Twining previously served on the faculties of a variety of institutions including the University of Kentucky and the State University of New York at Buffalo.
