Filmmaker, author to visit UO for a talk on shadow lynchings

The producer of a short film examining the 1931 lynching of a Black man in Maryland will speak at the UO in May as this year’s Tzedek Lecturer at the Oregon Humanities Center.

Charles Chavis Jr. also co-wrote the film, “Hidden in Full View: Out of the Archive, Racist Plans Are Laid Bare.” He also is the author of “The Silent Shore: The Lynching of Matthew Williams and the Politics of Racism in the Free State,” a book about the lynching.

Chavis will screen the film and discuss his book in two virtual appearances, one in Portland and the other in Eugene. He will be at the Ecotrust Building, 721 NW Ninth Ave. in Portland, at 5:30 p.m. Monday, May 16, and in Room 180, Prince Lucien Campbell Hall on the Eugene campus at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 17.

Chavis’ appearances are free and open to the public, but preregistration is requested. The Eugene appearance also will be livestreamed.

Chavis will focus on the institutional and descriptive challenges of archival research and the importance of community archives in the fight for transformative justice.  Backstory Books & Yarn will sell Chavis' book in Portland. J. Michaels Books will sell it in Eugene.