Filmmaker Byron Motley to speak Oct. 20
as second Lecture~Concert series event

Filmmaker Byron Motley will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 20, at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro in the Fowler Center.

Motley’s presentation will be the second event of the 2004-05 Lecture~Concert Series. The topic of his speech will be his upcoming documentary, “Oh, How They Lived -- Stories of the Negro Leagues,” which he produced about the Negro Baseball Leagues.

The documentary was produced in conjunction with the Negro Baseball Leagues Museum in Kansas City, and will be the first documentary about the leagues.  In his presentation, Motley, also a talented singer and songwriter, will share his knowledge and interest in the leagues.

Motley became interested in the Negro Baseball Leagues when his father, a chief umpire for several years, told him stories about the games as a child. A recent renewal in interest of the Negro Leagues has prompted Motley’s documentary and lecture appearances, along with a television documentary of the same name.

His goal is to inform the public about the contributions the Negro Leagues made in the 20^th century.  In the documentary, Motley interviews baseball greats such as Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Monte Irvin, Cool Papa Bell, Henry Aaron and Willie Mays. The documentary tells the history of the Negro Leagues, and also shows the impact of the game in the segregated society.

This event is presented with support from the College of Communications.  

The next Lecture~Concert Series event will be on Wednesday, Feb.16, 2005, with John Todd, who will speak on “What Can Be Destroyed Can Be Healed:  The Promise of Ecological Design.”

All Lecture~Concert programs are free and open to the public. The Lecture~Concert Series presents diverse programs to enrich the cultural life of the campus, community and region.

For more information, please contact Dr. Gil Fowler, interim Dean of The Honors College, at 870-972-2308 or via email him at gfowler@astate.edu.