Civil rights cold cases in Tennessee

Laura Kebede-Twumasi

Laura Kebede-Twumasi is launching the Civil Wrongs project at the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis in Tennessee. Previously, she wrote and hosted a WKNO public television special on unresolved civil rights crimes in the Memphis area, and spearheaded a partnership between The New Tri-State Defender and WKNO public radio on a forgotten civil rights journalism hero, L. Alex Wilson. Laura Kebede-Twumasi is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has a decade of reporting experience, including five years writing about education inequities in Memphis for Chalkbeat.

Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis

The Institute for Public Service Reporting is a nonprofit newsroom on the campus of the University of Memphis specializing in investigative reporting and in-depth explanatory journalism—an arm of the university with a firewall protecting their editorial independence. Its mission is to provide robust, civic-minded journalism that promotes a vibrant democracy, fosters inclusiveness and enriches the lives of the people of greater Memphis, including many underserved communities. Stories appear on its news site, and on The Daily Memphian, a nonprofit news site.