The Shelter Island Health and Wellness Alliance presents the third in its Necessary Bridges talks, this one focused on Bob Zellner, the son and grandson of Ku Klux Klansmen who became a civil rights leader in his native state of Alabama. Now in his eighties, Zellner will talk about his autobiography, which was recently made into a film called “Son of the South.”
Fellow Alabamian and Pulitzer prize-winning author Diane McWhorter will interview Zellner. Her book “Carry Me Home,” about the civil rights history of Birmingham, Alabama, won a 2002 Pulitzer for non-fiction.
A former Shelter Islander, McWhorter interviewed Zellner in the research for her book and is eager to reconnect with him about their shared ‘hometown’ communities of Alabama and the East End of Long Island — where Zellner lived for several years and continued his activism.
The talk is co-sponsored by the Shelter Island Public Library and takes place Friday, February 19 at 7 PM via Zoom. All are welcome to join the conversation. Register for the event using the library’s online form at least 30 minutes before the start of the program.
Zellner’s book, “The Wrong Side of Murder Creek,” is available to borrow online using your library card at Live-brary. You can rent the film on Amazon or Apple TV. It is directed by Barry Alexander Brown, who co-wrote the screenplay with Constance Curry, based on Zellner’s book. Spike Lee is executive producer.
Zellner was the first white field secretary of SNCC (the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee). His job was to recruit like-minded white students into the movement. As an organizer of the Freedom Rides, he was beaten and arrested numerous times. He spent much of his later years as an East End resident, but has returned to the South to work as a health care activist.
About Necessary Bridges
The “Necessary Bridges” series was inspired a student-led protest of racial inequality here during the summer of 2020; it seeks to promote education and better understanding of social justice issues.
In August, Necessary Bridges hosted a community conversation about racism on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s oration at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, perhaps best known for its most famous line as his “I have a dream” speech.
You can watch a recording of that program on the library’s YouTube channel.
The second Necessary Bridges talk featured Shelter Islander Ann Banks (author and founder of the website Confederates In My Closet) and Karen Orozco Gutierrez of Iowa talking about their ancestral connection through slavery in Alabama. Donnamarie Barnes, Curator/Archivist of Sylvester Manor Educational Farm, moderated the discussion.
Read more about that program in this Gazette post.
Feature photo credit: Penn State University Libraries digital Jack Rabin Collection on the Alabama Civil Rights Movement and Southern Activist. See more in the series at digital.libraries.psu.edu.
