Programs

We Carry Their Bones

Panel Discussion with Dr. Erin Kimmerle

ABOUT THE EVENT

Dr. Erin Kimmerle’s book, “We Carry Their Bones--The Search for Justice at Dozier School for Boys” is a critically acclaimed account of how a leading forensic anthropologist brought justice for the families of young people who died in this state institution. 
 
Dr. Kimmerle will present a brief synopsis of the book and answer questions from the audience about her work.

ABOUT DR. ERIN KIMMERLE

Dr. Erin Kimmerle is the Executive Director and founder of the Florida Institute for Forensic Anthropology and Applied Science and Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of South Florida. She runs the Forensic Anthropology Laboratory, USF Human Donation Program, and the Outdoor Facility for Research in Forensic Anthropology (FORT), comprised of a 3.4-acre facility for multidisciplinary research in forensic anthropology, legal medicine, and related sciences. 

Dr. Kimmerle received Hillsborough County Bar Association: Liberty Bell Award, given to an “outstanding non-lawyer citizen whose community service strengthens the effectiveness of the American system under the law.” and more recently, the AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award in 2020 for “scientists whose exemplary actions have demonstrated scientific freedom and/or responsibility in challenging circumstances.”

ABOUT GUEST SPEAKER BEN MONTGOMERY  

Author and reporter 

Ben Montgomery is author of the New York Times-bestselling 'Grandma Gatewood's Walk,' winner of a 2014 Outdoor Book Award, 'The Leper Spy,' 'The Man Who Walked Backward,' and 'A Shot in the Moonlight." He spent most of his 20 year newspaper career as an enterprise reporter for the Tampa Bay Times. He founded the narrative journalism website Gangrey.com and helped launch the Auburn Chautauqua, a Southern writers collective. 
In 2010, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in local reporting and won the Dart Award and Casey Medal for a series called "For Their Own Good," about abuse at Florida's oldest reform school. 

Montgomery grew up in Oklahoma and studied journalism at Arkansas Tech University, where he played defensive back for the football team, the Wonder Boys. He worked for the Courier in Russellville, Ark., the Standard-Times in San Angelo, Texas, the Times Herald-Record in New York's Hudson River Valley and the Tampa Tribune before joining the St. Petersburg Times in 2006. He lives in Tampa.

Book Review

"We Carry Their Bones is a detailed account of Jim Crow America and an indictment of the reform school system as we know it. It's also a fascinating dive into the science of forensic anthropology and an important retelling of the extraordinary efforts taken to bring these lost children home to their families--an endeavor that created a political firestorm and a dramatic reckoning with racism and shame in the legacy of America."
 
- Goodreads review, 22 Feb 2023

PARKING

Parking is available in Lot 21 and Lot 37 with USF parking passes.  Paid guest parking is found in Lot 6, the lot just north of the Sun Dome.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EVENT?

For more information or to request reasonable accommodations, please contact CAS RSVP.