Wednesdays – Bryan Stevenson

Instructor: Harriet Hendel

To celebrate Black History Month, we will honor Bryan Stevenson, founder and director of Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. (circa 1989) EJI is a human rights organization representing indigent people on Death Row. Stevenson has scored major victories for juveniles caught up in our legal system, banning mandatory Life Without Parole for children. His best-selling book, Just Mercy was made into a movie. We will watch clips of the film along with his deeply moving TEDTalk: “We Need to Talk About an Injustice”. Stevenson is also featured in an HBO Documentary called “True Justice”, parts of which we will view. Many people have drawn a comparison to Archbishop Desmond Tutu and dubbed Stevenson “America’s young Mandela”.