In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Alabama Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law Review, a publication based out of the School of Law, will host a symposium Fridayto discuss race and gender inequity.

DJ Harris, editor-in-chief of the Review, said the act was a huge piece of legislation with far-reaching impact.

“The symposium is in many ways a retrospective,” he said. “We’re looking at where were we then, where are we now, where is the law moving in these places?”

The keynote speaker will be Dorothy Brown, vice provost and professor of law at Emory University. Other speakers will be arriving from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, the University of Chicago, Georgetown University, the University of Pittsburgh, Duke University and Wake Forest University.

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Harris said the symposium will tie in directly with the review’s upcoming Fall 2014 issue and functions as extended dialogue. Topics from transgender people in the workplace to equal pay will be discussed. He said all students should attend the diverse panel and all-encompassing issue of civil liberties.

“I don’t see this as an event that caters to minority persons or LGBT persons or any one particular group more than the other,” he said. “I think there will be a variety of viewpoints expressed.”

The law review, Harris said, provides a unique intellectual voice for Alabama’s long history with the civil rights and civil liberties movement and offers a qualified look at upcoming issues.

Nathan Gilbert, managing editor, said the state’s history is seemingly notorious, but also includes positive milestones and historical luminaries. He also said the review attempts to further the intellectual discourse surrounding the issue.

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“We think Alabama has a unique place in the civil rights struggle,” he said. “We still believe there’s a lot of good work left to do.”

The subject of civil liberties, he said, goes further still.

“We talk a lot about and we publish articles about race, of course, but also about women’s issues, about LGBT issues, about education inequality,” he said. “It’s not just purely focusing on civil rights from a racial perspective. It’s civil rights from a broad perspective. It’s focusing on equality wherever it rears its head.”

Harris said the symposium itself will be an opportunity for students to interact with scholars and for scholars to interact with and sharpen each other.

“I think it’ll be really fun and we’ve got a really, really great line-up of scholars,” he said.

The event will be hosted Friday from 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. at the University of Alabama School of Law. All students and faculty are welcome to attend.

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