E. Dorian Gadsden, a retired federal administrative law judge and author, will speak at ETSU this Thursday (Nov. 8) at 6 p.m. in Room 309 of the Sherrod Library.
His free public talk, “The Federal Judicial System and Distinguished African American Litigators for Civil Rights,” is the second in the AFAM Lecture Series sponsored by ETSU’s African/African American Studies Program, Office of Multicultural Affairs and Department of Political Science.
Gadsden is the author of “Resolving the Dilemma: Closing the Divide,” published by Pentland Press in 2002. In this book, he “describes the race problem, its symptoms, and the origins of current race relations in America, and analyzes why racism persists today,” according to amazon.com.
He also offers “recommendations from scholars and national leaders on how to resolve the dilemma and significantly improve race relations in the nation.” In addition, he is the author of a 1989 non-fiction work, “Progress Against the Tide.”
Gadsden, who grew up in South Carolina during lawful racial segregation and served in the segregated U.S. Navy, studied at Central State University in Ohio and The Ohio State University before earning his law degree from Howard State University Law School.
After practicing at the private, state and federal levels, he spent 26 years as a federal administrative law judge, overseeing trials in courthouses throughout the eastern United States and Puerto Rico.
One of his most notable cases as a judge was the labor relations case of Citizens National Bank of Willmar, Minn., which became the substance of a television documentary, “The Willmar Eight,” and a two-hour television production, “In the Matter of Sex,” which aired nationally.
For more information or for special assistance for those with disabilities, call Dr. Dorothy Drinkard-Hawkshawe, ETSU professor of history and director of African/African-American studies, at 439-6688.

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