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Wayne County Reads 2008

Wayne County, N.C., readers have chosen Blood Done Sign My Name for Wayne County Reads, a countywide reading project that will begin in January 2008. The book is a nonfiction account of the murder of an African-American man in Oxford, N.C., and the racial tensions it stirred in 1970. Tim Tyson, a 10-year-old at the time, was haunted by his memories of the incident and began the research that led to this book.

OUR FINAL 2008 EVENT:

FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 7 p.m.,
Wayne Community College's auditorium, 3000 Wayne Memorial Drive, Goldsboro.
Gene Roberts, a Wayne County native, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle and the Awakening of a Nation, will talk about his book and its connection to Blood Done Sign My Name.

Refreshments and a book-signing will follow. Roberts’ book will be available for purchase; $26 for hardback, $14 paperback, cash or check only.

This is a free event and open to the public.

Roberts was born in Pikeville to a preacher, Eugene L. Roberts Sr., and Margaret Ham Roberts. After graduating from Goldsboro High School in 1950, he attended Mars Hill College from 1950-52, and earned a degree in journalism in 1954 from the University of North Carolina. After a stint in the Army, Roberts earned his first official newspaper job working for the Goldsboro News-Argus.

Roberts has written for the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, Raleigh News & Observer, Detroit Free Press, New York Times, and spent 18 years with the Philadelphia Inquirer.

He was awarded a Nieman Fellowship by Harvard University, the National Press Club’s “Fourth Estate Award,” and finally after leading the Philadelphia Inquirer to 17 Pulitzer Prizes, received his own Pulitzer when The Race Beat, which he authored with Atlanta Journal Constitution Managing Editor Hank Klibanoff, won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2007.

He teaches at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, specializing in classes on writing complex stories, newsroom management, and the press’ role in the Civil Rights Movement. He currently lives in New York with his wife Susan.

Partners in this year's Wayne County Reads include the Arts Council of Wayne County, Mount Olive College, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Wayne Community College, Wayne Country Day School, Wayne County Historical Association, Wayne County Chapter of the UNC Alumni Association, Wayne County Public Library, and Wayne County Public Schools.

Financial support for some events has been provided by the Friends of the Library, M and J Foundation, Borden Foundation and the Frank and Sally Borden Foundation.

Nearly 400 people came Monday, Jan. 28, to hear Tim Tyson speak at Wayne Community College. Also appearing was gospel singer Mary D. Williams.

WAYNE COUNTY READS is a community-wide reading campaign, what is sometimes called a "One Book" projects. The first one is believed to have been "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book," which was initiated by the Washington Center for the Book in 1998. The goal of "One Book" projects is to strengthen community ties by giving people something in common to discuss.

Previous Wayne County Reads selections were Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird in 2004; Big Fish, by Daniel Wallace of Chapel Hill, 2005; Night, by Elie Wiesel, 2006; and Walking Across Egypt, Clyde Edgerton, 2007.

The organizing committee for Wayne County Reads includes representatives of the Wayne County Public Library System, Wayne County Public Schools, Mount Olive College, Wayne Community College, the Foundation of Wayne Community College, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Wayne County Council on Aging and the Arts Council of Wayne County. Other groups have been involved at different times.