User:Dorakvaz/Keith Weldon Medley

Keith Weldon Medley

Keith Weldon Medley is the author of We as Freeman: Plessy v. Ferguson, The Fight against Legal Segregation published in 2003 by Pelican Publishing Company. He is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana and a two-time recipient of Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities’ Publication Initiative Grants. As a freelance writer, he has compiled over fifty writings on Louisiana’s history and culture including two reports in Smithsonian magazine . His writings and photographs have also appeared in American Legacy, Louisiana Cultural Vistas, Preservation in Print, Historic Preservation, New Orleans Tribune, Times-Picayune, Southern Exposure, and many other publications. The May 2004 issue of Smithsonian magazine featured an article by Medley on the historic Tuskegee Airmen. In July of 2005, the Governor’s Louisiana Commission on Human Rights commissioned Medley for an exhibit entitled “A Civil Rights Century” commemorating the centennial of the 1905 Niagara Movement. In October of 2005, he presided over a panel at the Southern Historical Association’s annual meeting in Atlanta. In 2007, he was the lead interviewee in the literary journal Callaloo #29: An American Tragedy that focused on Hurricane Katrina. In 2008, he was the guest lecturer at the Ogden museum for an exhibit entitled New Orleans Free People of Color and their Legacy. In 2007 and 2008, he produced two essays on New Orleans historic neighborhoods Faubourg Treme and Faubourg Marigny in Louisiana Cultural Vistas. He has been featured in NPR’s Weekend Edition, HBO’s Treme: Beyond Bourbon Street, and the BBC’s Mixing documentary. His photos and writings on Homer Plessy are now part of the collection of the Louisiana State Supreme Court museum.

In January of 2009, the Times-Picayune published Mr. Medley’s Inauguration Day – The Civil Rights Movement’s Legacy in recognition of the election of President Obama. On February 12th, 2009, Medley spoke at A Celebration of Progress which accompanied installation of the historic marker to commemorate Plessy v. Ferguson. In September of 2009, with the theme of Speaking the Truth on Social Issues and Politics in the 21st Century, Medley gave the closing remarks at the 52nd Anniversary Symposium that commemorated the Little Rock Nine students. In October 2009, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art released a catalogue entitled New Orleans Free People of Color & Their Legacy with Medley writing the introduction, a historical timeline and fifteen biographical sketches of notable free people of color in Louisiana. In 2010, he was featured speaker at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site where he presented Plessy & Ferguson – Remembrance and Reconciliation. In July of 2010, the theatrical work SE-PA-RATE opened at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts based on research from Medley’s book We as Freemen. In 2010, he served as MC for the unveiling of a historic marker in the Lower Ninth Ward to commemorate the four girls who integrated public elementary schools in the South. In 2011, he was invited to speak on his book at University of Louisiana at Lafayette Summer Seminar.

As a photographer, Medley’s work has appeared in Smithsonian magazine, American Legacy, American Poetry Review, New Orleans: Life in an Epic City, New Orleans Tribune, and the front cover of Callaloo #20. Medley’s photographs are also part of the New Orleans Public Library’s regional photographer’s collection. He attended Holy Redeemer Elementary School, St. Augustine’s High School, and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Southern University in New Orleans with studies in Sociology and Psychology.

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