Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2010-09-10

 

 Journalist and social issues writer Sonia Nazario will address students at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law Thursday, Sept. 16, at 6 p.m. in Reid Chapel. The public is invited free of charge to the program, sponsored by Cumberland’s Cordell Hull Speakers Forum.

Author of the best-selling Enrique’s Journey, Nazario will discuss immigration issues as seen through the eyes of a child. Each year, an estimated 48,000 children enter the U.S. from Central America and Mexico illegally and without a parent.

Nazario’s 2003 account of a Honduran boy’s struggle to find his mother in the U.S. won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. Expanded into a book, Enrique’s Journey became a national bestseller and won two book awards. It is required reading in many colleges and high schools.

Nazario has spent 20 years reporting and writing about social issues, most recently as a projects reporter for The Los Angeles Times. Her stories tackle such topics as hunger and drug addiction, as well as immigration. She has been named among the most influential Latinos by Hispanic business magazine and a “trendsetter” by Hispanic magazine.

Prior to her talk, Alabama Appleseed advocacy organization and Cordell Hull Speakers Forum will co-sponsor a panel discussion on immigration at 4 p.m. in the moot courtroom of Robinson Hall law building. Panelists are victim witness specialist Jacqueline Vickers of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Leslie Hillhouse of Catholic Social Services’ multicultural resource center; and Shay Farley, Alabama Appleseed legal director. Zayne Smith, immigration policy fellow with Alabama Appleseed, will moderate. The public is invited.

For more information, call (205) 726-2704.


 

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.