Kennedy Assassination, 50 years later

It is one of the lowest moments in United States history, a day that stands hallowed for all the wrong reasons, shrouded in mystery and unanswered questions in every direction. On the 50th anniversary of the assassination, the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection present a Peabody Decades Roundtable on Friday at 3 p.m. in the Russell Building Special Collections Library:

"50 Years Since the Kennedy Assassination." A screening of "JFK: A Time Remembered" followed by a panel discussion featuring Ashton Ellett, history, Trey Hood, political science, Janice Hume, journalism, and Donald Wilkes, law.

The program will pay tribute to President Kennedy and his legacy and examine the impact of his assassination then and now.

Ellett's research focuses on the political, diplomatic and social history of post-World War II and Cold War American society. Hood's research interests include southern politics and gun control policies. Hume studies the relationship between American journalism and collective memory; she is the author of "Journalism and a Culture of Grief."  Wilkes has written more than 30 articles about the Kennedy assassination.

We have enough difficulty understanding the present, and as much as history also gives us problems, recent history can be more complex and murky. No doubt our country took a turn on Nov. 22, 1963. But towards where? Luckily there are films like this and media archives like the Brown and Peabody to help us think about that event and try to understand ourselves and our past a bit better. We need all the help we can get.