Wallace State to host former U.S. Attorney Douglas Jones on Wednesday in conjunction with college’s Common Read, “While the World Watched”
HANCEVILLE – Wallace State Community College will host Douglas Jones, a former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama and the lead 16th Street bombing prosecutor, on Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 9:30 a.m. at the Burrow Center Recital Hall.
Jones will visit and speak on campus in conjunction with Wallace State’s Common Read, “While the World Watched.” For the fifth consecutive academic year, Wallace State employees and students have participated in the Common Read campus-wide initiative. Carolyn Maull McKinstry, a survivor of the 16th street bombing during the Civil Rights era and author of “While the World Watched,” visited campus last October to share her first-hand account of those horrific events.
Now, Jones will share his experiences from a different angle. He personally led the team of prosecutors and investigators in the reopened case of the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. He was lead trial attorney in the successful prosecutions of two former Ku Klux Klansmen for the murder of four young girls killed in the bombing.
For recognition of his work during the era, Jones was recently awarded a 15th Anniversary Civil Rights Distinguished Service Award by the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. He served as a U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 1997-2001.
Jones will also host a question-and-answer session from the audience.
The Wallace State Diversity and Learning Committees are also sponsoring Wednesday’s event.
For more information about Wallace State, visit wallacestate.edu.
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PHOTO: Doug Jones
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Russell Moore
Staff Writer, Communications and Marketing
Wallace State Community College
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