The David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences launches the 2022-23 season of Pryor Center Presents at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 14, with a discussion by Dale Carpenter and Robert Cochran of their recently published book, Reporting for Arkansas: The Documentary Films of Jack Hill. This event is cosponsored by the University of Arkansas Press.
Reporting for Arkansas is a retrieval and reissue of journalist and documentary filmmaker Jack Hill’s pioneering Little Rock production company, TeleVision for Arkansas. His best films reflect a passion for Arkansas history and a determination to report on significant events from local perspectives.
This presentation will feature Hill’s 2004 film, Doing What Was Right, about the 1954 desegregation of public schools in Charleston. Chaplain Rev. Sylvia Bell, who attended school in Charleston in 1954 and appeared in the film, will join Carpenter and Cochran onstage.
Carpenter taught broadcast journalism and documentary filmmaking at the university for a quarter century. His documentary films have been broadcast nationally on PBS and have garnered seven regional Emmy Awards. Carpenter was also a cameraman on many of Jack Hill’s documentaries, including Doing the Right Thing.
Cochran is professor of English and director of the Center for Arkansas and Regional Studies at the U of A. He is currently finishing a book on Charles Portis. Cochran edits the Arkansas Character series for the University of Arkansas Press, of which Reporting for Arkansas is the fourth volume.
Pearl’s Books will have copies of the book available for sale at the Pryor Center.
This event will be held in person and via Zoom. If you wish to attend virtually, please register in advance with an e-mail address that is associated with a Zoom account. Registration is not required for in-person attendance.
The Pryor Center is located at 1 E. Center St., Suite 120. The event is free and open to the public, and parking is available on the Fayetteville Square.