The inaugural lecture of the The Robert Talbot Civil Rights Speaker Series, featuring “Fighting Time” co-authors Amy Banks and Isaac Knapper, will take place on Thursday, Oct. 21, at Wells Conference Center, University of Maine.
4:30 p.m. – reception | 5:30 p.m. – program
Visit our.umaine.edu/talbot or call 207.581.1146 to register. Admission is free.
This event, presented by the University of Maine Alumni Association and the Greater Bangor branch of the NAACP, is supported by a generous grant from Bangor Savings Bank.
About “Fighting Time,” by co-authors Amy Banks and Isaac Knapper
In 1979, 16-year-old Isaac Knapper was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder in New Orleans of UMaine History Professor Ronald Banks. However, Knapper was freed 13 years later after it was revealed that prosecutors had suppressed evidence that cleared Knapper of the crime.
Professor Banks’ daughter, Amy Banks, was also 16 years old at the time of her father’s murder. Twenty-six years later, she and Knapper met and began working together to process the horrific circumstances of the murder and judicial failures.
Now close friends and advocates for racial justice and reform, the two have collaborated on “Fighting Time.” As reviewer Jennifer Thompson wrote, “Fighting Time” is not just a book about the injustice of a wrongful conviction, but a love story of the capacity of human beings to find power in the pain and healing in the harm.”
“Fighting Time” will be published on Nov. 5. Advance copies of the book will be available for sale at Banks and Knapper’s Oct. 21 presentation and at The Briar Patch bookstore in Bangor.
