JOHNSON CITY (Jan. 15, 2021) – Bettie Mae Fikes, known as “The Queen of the Blues,”
will give a live virtual lecture for East Tennessee State University on Thursday,
Jan. 21, at 7 p.m. via Zoom.
This celebrated icon of the 1960s Civil Rights movement has sustained her public activity
by frequently performing as a core member of the SNCC Freedom Singers and has graced
the stages of Carnegie Hall, the Newport Jazz Festival and the Library of Congress.
She is a recipient of the Long Walk to Freedom Award and was recently inducted into
the Smithsonian Institute’s “Museum of Tolerance” in an exhibition honoring women
of the Civil Rights movement.
A Q&A will follow Fikes’ free public talk, which may be accessed using Zoom ID 957 7364 6411.
For more information, call Laura Terry, director of Programming and Outreach in ETSU’s
Mary V. Jordan Multicultural Center, at 423-439-5872 or email mcstaff@etsu.edu.
For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at 423-439-8346.