Internationally acclaimed journalist
to speak on race and the Vietnam War

KINGSTON, R.I. -- October 8, 1999 -- Wallace Terry, a renowned journalist and author, will talk about the pride and patriotism of the many black soldiers who fought and died in disproportionate numbers during the Vietnam War as part of URI's fall honors colloquium series, "Legacies of the Vietnam War."

Terry, of Reston, Va., will speak in the Barry Marks Auditorium, Room 271 of the Chafee Social Science Center on URI's Kingston Campus, Oct. 26 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. He will also talk about war correspondence at URI's Feinstein College of Continuing Education in Providence on Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m.

Terry is a man who has broken many racial boundaries. He is a prize-winning author, journalist, radio and television commentator, producer, performer, and public speaker. He is well known for his interviews of influential members of society and for his internationally-acclaimed bestseller, BLOODS, which has been translated into six languages, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and named one of the 10 best books of the year by Time Magazine. Adaptations of BLOODS have won the NAACP Hollywood Image Award, the Gold Cindy, and a national Emmy nomination.

Born in New York City, Terry attended Brown University where he became the first black editor-in-chief of an Ivy League newspaper. This led to a job at The Washington Post, then Time Magazine, where he became the first black Washington correspondent for the mainstream media and the first black news magazine reporter. During the Vietnam War, Terry traveled to Saigon where he was deputy bureau chief for Time and the first black war correspondent for the mainstream media. He covered the Tet Offensive, flew combat missions with American and South Vietnamese pilots, and joined assault troops.

Since his front line coverage of Vietnam, Terry has worked in a variety of positions and places in the media. He has appeared as a news analyst on the BBC, CBC, Agronsky & Co., Meet the Press, Face the Nation, and the CBS Evening News. He has appeared on CNN, C-SPAN, the Today Show, the Larry King Show, Good Morning America, and Soul Train. His commentaries have been broadcast on CBS Radio Spectrum, Mutual Broadcasting, National Public Radio, Voice of America, Black Entertainment Television, WUSA-TV, and WTOP Radio in Washington. He has worked at USA Today and is now contributing editor at Parade.

Terry was featured in three BBC television documentaries, wrote and narrated Guess Who's Coming Home, the only documentary recording from the Vietnam battlefields, created The Family Tree, a black history television series, and supervised the television series, Eyes on the Prize. He wrote and narrated the PBS Frontline show, The Bloods of Nam, and the Mutual Broadcasting show, Marching to Freedom, which won an NEA citation and the Edward R. Murrow Brotherhood Award from B'nai B'rith. Disney also released Dead Presidents, based on Terry's story.

Terry has toured more than 200 colleges with his one man show, BLOODS: An Evening with Wallace Terry and was named Entertainer of the Year in 1987 by the National Association of Campus Activities.

Terry has also been an account manager and film producer for J. Walter Thomson, a past president of the Capital Press Club, which named him Journalist of the Year, and a past member of the National Press Club and the White House Correspondents Association. He has also been an advisor to the White House Conference to Fulfill These Rights, U.S. Air Force in Europe, and the Veterans Administration. He is an ordained minister in the Disciples of Christ Church and is licensed in the Baptist Church.

URI's Colloquium series runs Tuesday nights from 7:30 to 9 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

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For More Information: Jan Sawyer, 401-874-2116