Talk show host Brown to highlight healthy communities

Tony Brown's call to action is very explicit: No Black lies, no white lies—only the truth.

As a civil rights crusader for more than four decades, Brown has dedicated himself to exposing the truth about racial disparities in America and developing strategies to overcome them.

Tony Brown (right) appears with King onstage in Detroit. The June 23, 1963, event may have inspired King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. (Photo courtesy Tony Brown)

"Building the Beloved (Healthy) Community: A Conversation with Tony Brown," will take place at 11:45 a.m. Jan. 15, in the Dow Auditorium in the Towsley Center on the medical campus. It is sponsored by the Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Public Health, Social Work, School of Pharmacy and the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers. The presentation will highlight the challenges that racial inequalities pose to the nation's health care system, and ways to reduce and eliminate health disparities and promote health and wellness in the United States.

As the organizer of the largest civil rights march in history, Brown was a personal friend of King. The march, which took place in Detroit in June of 1963, was led by King and is believed to be the first time the famous "I Have a Dream" speech was delivered, 66 days before the March on Washington, D.C.

Since then, Brown has distinguished himself as a producer, best-selling author, educator, radio host, television commentator and film director. As the commentator on the PBS's longest-running television series, "Tony Brown's Journal," he was recently inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' prestigious Silver Circle. In addition to his achievements in television, Brown hosts "Tony Brown Chicago," a radio program broadcast in the Chicago area. He was named one of "the 100 most important radio talk show hosts in America" by Talkers, a prestigious radio industry publication.

Brown, a graduate of Wayne State University, is the author of "What Mama Taught Me; Empower the People"; and "Lies, White Lies: The Truth According To Tony Brown." He went on to become the first and founding dean of the School of Communications at Howard University and later was appointed the first dean of the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications at Hampton University.