Wide Angle Lunch is a thought-provoking lunch hour in the peaceful surroundings of the Charleston Library Society while you fulfill your appetite in every way.
Armand Derfner ~ Welcome Mat or No Trespassing Sign? Immigration in America
Armand Derfner is no stranger to America’s immigration issues. Born in France to Polish Jews who had already fled their homeland in Hitler’s early days, his family was forced to flee again as Nazis invaded France and the Vichy government proved incapable of protecting its more vulnerable citizens. This time, their adopted homeland would be United States, immigrating at a time when the Statue of Liberty’s welcome mat often seemed far more like a No Trespassing sign.
In his talk, Mr. Derfner, a longtime human rights lawyer, will discuss the tumultuous and very mixed history of immigration in the United States, from the mostly open doors of the early days to years of Isolationism to today’s refugee crises, border walls, and growing xenophobia. Boxed lunches will be served.
Armand Derfner has been practicing civil rights law for over 54 years. His focus on voting rights began with representing voters in Greenwood, Mississippi, in August of 1965 on the first day of the Voting Rights Act. He helped shape the Voting Rights Act through his numerous Supreme Court arguments and his work with Congress.
For more than 20 years, Mr. Defner worked on two long-running suits to desegregate and end racial inequality in the higher education systems in Alabama and Mississippi. In addition he has been involved in numerous other civil rights and public interest cases, including representing civil rights demonstrators, death row inmates, victims of employment discrimination, targets of free speech. In 2009, the American Bar Association named his firm Public Interest Lawyers of the Year.
$20 members/ $30 nonmembers for individual sessions
OR
Series Pass: $60 members/ $90 nonmembers
To purchase tickets, call 843-723-9912 or click here
