FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2016 file photo, filmmaker Ken Burns participates in the "Jackie Robinson" panel at the PBS Winter TCA in Pasadena, Calif. Burns has been chosen to deliver the 2016 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, according to the National Endowment for the Humanities, which produces the event. He will deliver the lecture May 9 at Washington’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
January 19, 2016 - 12:20 PM
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has been chosen to deliver the 2016 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, according to the National Endowment for the Humanities, which produces the event.
Burns will deliver the lecture May 9 at Washington's John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He will talk about race in America, a topic that he has explored through nearly 40 years of directing and producing historical documentaries including "The Civil War" miniseries and, debuting on PBS in April, a film about Jackie Robinson.
The Jefferson Lecture is the highest honour the federal government bestows for intellectual achievement in the humanities. Past lecturers include actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith and filmmaker Martin Scorsese.
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Online:
http://www.neh.gov
News from © The Associated Press, 2016