Noted Holocaust And Racism Oral Historian Visits New York City
April 9 To 15

Released on: April 10, 2008, 7:57 am

Press Release Author: James Byrd Jr. Racism Oral History Project

Industry: Media

Press Release Summary: Noted Holocaust and Racism Oral Historian Visits New York City April 9 to l5; Lani Silver coordinated 4,100 interviews on the Holocaust and Racism. Makes the Links between the Holocaust and Social Injustice Today.

Press Release Body: Contact Lani Silver 212-889-5301 or 4l5-485-4208 Noted Oral Historian Visiting New York City April 9 to l5th, 2008

Lani Silver, who is lecturing on the East Coast, coordinated l,700 oral histories with 1,400 Holocaust survivors and 2,563 Interviews on racism in America.

Former director of Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project and current director of the James Byrd Jr. Racism Oral History Project, a project of the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing is lecturing on these and related topics in the New York City area.

James Byrd Jr. was dragged through the outskirts of Jasper Texas, in June l998. Byrd was chained to a truck, by three white supremacists, and dragged three miles to his death. Thus far, Silver has conducted 2,563 interviews on racism in America. This June marks the l0th anniversary of this hate-crime. This June will mark the l0th year anniversary of the death of Mr. Byrd.

Silver, a teacher and free-lance journalist, is one of the country's foremost oral historians. In l981, she founded one of the first Holocaust oral history projects in the country, the Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project. She was also Steven Spielberg's first consultant for his Holocaust oral history project, the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, which conducted 53,000 oral histories.

In l993, Ms. Silver co-discovered the story of Chiune Sugihara, “the Japanese Schindler” who saved thousands of Jews when he served as the Consul General from Japan to Lithuania during World War II. Sugihara issued visas to Jews fleeing Poland, against the order of Japan, and was later fired for that “incident in Lithuania.”

Silver has won over twenty awards for her community service work. Silver was named “Woman of the Year” by San Francisco's public television and radio station (2003). For further information, see lanisilver.com.

Please contact Lani Silver at 212-889-5301 in New York City. Silver can be reached at byrdproject@aol.com.

Web Site: http://lanisilver.com/

Contact Details: In New York City, Silver can be reached at 212-889 5301. In San Francisco, byrdproject@aol.com