Ned Cobb, born in Tallapoosa County in 1885, was an African-American tenant farmer and member of the Alabama Sharecroppers' Union. From the 1930s on, he fought for the rights of poor farmers in the South. In 1969, Theodore Rosengarten came to Alabama to search for and interview surviving members of the Sharecroppers Union. Rosengarten’s interviews with Cobb resulted in the book All God's Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw, which won a National Book Award in 1974.

The symposium will feature a panel discussion with historians Theodore and Dale Rosengarten and members of the Cobb family. Bill Ferris, folklorist and former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, will moderate.

The symposium is free and open to the public, and a reception will follow. Sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities at Pebble Hill, OLLI at Auburn, and the Department of History at Auburn University.

For more information, or to register, visit aub.ie/nedcobb.

The Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities at Pebble Hill is located at 101 S. Debardeleben Street, Auburn. For more information, call 334-844-4903 or visit www.auburn.edu/cah.