Dr. Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five formally known as the Central Park Five

Announced by University of Pittsburgh

On April 19, 1989, a young woman in the prime of her life was brutally raped and left for dead in New York City's Central Park. Five boys - four Black and one Latino - were tried and conviceted of the crime in a frenzied case that rocked the city. They became collectively known as "The Central Park Five."

Their convictions were vacated in 2002 after spending between seven and thirteen years of their lives behind bars. The unidentified DNA in the Central Park Jogger Case, unlinked to any of the five, had finally met its owner: a convicted murderer and serial rapist who confessed. The convictions of the boys, now men, were overturned and they were exonerated. One of those boys, Yusef Salaam, was just 15 years old when his life was upended and changed forever.

Since his release, Salaam has committed himself to advocating and educating people on the issues of false confessions, police brutality and misconduct, press ethics and bias, race and law, and the disparities in America's criminal justice system.

Salaam was awared an Honorary Doctorate in 2014 and received the Preseident's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016 from President Barack Obama.

Salaam wass appointed to the board of the Innocence Project in 2018, and released a Netflix limited series called "When They See Us" based on the true story of The Central Park Five with Ava Duvernay. Oprah Winfrey and Robert De Niro, in May of 2019.

Free and open to the public.
Advanced registration required by November 8:
alumni.carlow.edu/salaam

Event Date: 
Tuesday, November 12, 2019 - 7:00pm
Institution(s): 
Sponsored By: 
The Social Justice Institutes and the Atkins Center for Ethics
Contact: 
Ryan Scott, Director, Social Justice Institutes: rsscott@carlow.edu, 412.578.2043
Location: 
Gailliot Center, 5th Floor University Commons, Carlow University, 3333 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Target Audience: 
General Public