Samford University and the Birmingham Public Library will sponsor a series of events this spring in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement.

"The Year of Birmingham" will reflect on events of 1963, when the world turned its attention to Alabama's largest city during an often turbulent battle for freedom and equality. Five decades later, Birmingham is now recognized as a symbol of both racial intolerance and racial reconciliation.

All of the "Year of Birmingham" events are free and open to the public. The upcoming schedule:

January 23,  annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day Lecture, "Every New Generation: Immigrants, Society and the Law in the American South," presented by Isabel Rubio, executive director, Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama,   Arrington Auditorium, Birmingham Public Library, 12 noon.

February 5, Ethnic Notions, film and discussion on racial stereotypes, Brock Forum in Samford's Dwight Beeson Hall, 3:30 p.m.

February 19, King: Montgomery to Memphis, film and discussion, Brock Forum in Samford's Dwight Beeson Hall, 3:30 p.m.

March 5, Who Speaks for Birmingham?, film and discussion, Brock Forum in Samford's Dwight Beeson Hall, 7 p.m.

April 12, "This City Isn't Dead Yet: Temple Emanu-El and Civil Rights in Birmingham," a lecture by Samford history department chair Dr. Jonathan Bass, Temple Emanu-El, 5:40 p.m.

May 1, Crisis, documentary film and discussion about George C. Wallace and his stand at the school house door, Brock Forum in Samford's Dwight Beeson Hall. Time will be announced later.

For more information on the events, contact Dr. Bass at (205) 726-4133 or email sjbass@samford.edu. Samford will also partner with other organizations to engage in additional Birmingham Civil Rights anniversary events during 2013.