The Southern History/Black History Symposium will be Thursday, Feb. 25, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the Oxford Road Presentation Auditorium.

The symposium is part of the James Weldon Johnson Institute’s Public Dialogues in Race and Difference Series. The event is free and open to the public. An RSVP is requested.

A panel of historians specializing in 19th and 20th century African American and Southern history will discuss the connections between the two and the politics of commemoration.

Panelists include:

• Catherine Clinton, president of the Southern Historical Association and Denman Chair of American History at University of Texas-San Antonio

 • Joseph Crespino, Jimmy Carter Professor of History at Emory

 • Leslie M. Harris, associate professor of history at Emory

 • Maurice J. Hobson, assistant professor of African American Studies at Georgia State University

 • James L. Roark, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of History at Emory

The mass murder of nine black worshippers at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, rekindled debate over how the Confederacy should be remembered. Topics for the symposium include the relationship between Confederate heritage and African American history, the role of Confederate symbols, and whether such symbols honor heritage or promote racial hatred.

For more information, contact Anita Spencer Stevens or the JWJI.