{"id":140113,"date":"2025-02-04T21:29:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T02:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=140113"},"modified":"2025-02-04T21:29:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T02:29:26","slug":"ncc-presents-member-of-the-exonerated-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=140113","title":{"rendered":"NCC Presents Member of \u201cThe Exonerated Five\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Criminal justice advocate, Yusef Salaam, will be delivering the keynote address for the upcoming 2025 Annual Humanities lecture at the college in April.<\/em><\/p>\n

BETHLEHEM, PA<\/strong>\u00a0-Member of \u201cThe Exonerated Five,\u201d Dr. Yusef Salaam, will be the keynote speaker for Northampton Community College\u2019s (NCC) Annual Humanities Program this upcoming April 2025. The live event will take place on April 15, 2025, at 7 p.m. The event is free and is open to the public. To reserve tickets, visit\u00a0Northampton.edu\/NCCKeynote2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and matching gifts from generous donors, NCC established an endowment for the humanities in 2009. Each year, the endowment funds an annual theme led by a member of the faculty who develops a program of engaging educational events for students, faculty and staff, and our surrounding communities.<\/p>\n

NCC\u2019s Annual Humanities theme for 2024-2025,\u00a0Stories That Shape Us: Turn the Page, Connect, Engage!,\u00a0<\/em>explores cultural narratives that shape our understanding of the world. The keynote address will be facilitated by Psychology Professor, Megan Nocek.<\/p>\n

On April 19, 1989, a young woman was raped and left for dead in New York City\u2019s Central Park. That same year, a fifteen-year-old Salaam was tried and convicted in the case along with four other Black and Latino young men. They were referred to as a \u201cThe Central Park Five,\u201d but are now referred to as \u201cThe Exonerated Five.\u201d Convicted of a crime he did not commit, nearly 7 years into his sentence in 2002, Salaam\u2019s case was overturned. He was set free after unidentified DNA was found to be from a convicted murderer and serial rapist, who then confessed to the crime.<\/p>\n

Salaam’s life was forever changed by this experience, and since his release he has advocated for criminal justice and prison reform, racial justice, the abolition of juvenile solitary confinement and capital punishment, and more. Salaam was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in 2014 and received the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016 from President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

Salaam was appointed to the board of the Innocence Project and, in 2019, released the Netflix series,\u00a0When They See Us,\u00a0<\/em>based on the true story of the \u201cCentral Park Five.\u201d In 2021, he released his memoir,\u00a0Better, Not Bitter: Living on Purpose in the Pursuit of Racial Justice,<\/em>\u00a0detailing his journey where in the face of injustice, Salaam found hope. He currently serves as a member of New York City’s 9th City Council District, bringing his experiences with the criminal justice system to help make impactful change within the government.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About Northampton Community College<\/strong><\/p>\n

With an enduring commitment to the regional communities it serves and a focus on student success, Northampton Community College is an educational institution of extraordinary distinction, earning accolades at the state and national levels for innovative programs, outstanding faculty, and impressive student achievements. It counts among its successful alumni a four-time Pulitzer Prize winner and an Academy Award winning director, as well as a host of CEOs, presidents, and leaders of business and industry. Today, Northampton Community College has locations in Bethlehem, Southside Bethlehem, and Monroe County, serving 30,000 students annually from 53 counties, 42 countries, and 25 states. For more information or to apply, please visit\u00a0northampton.edu<\/a>.\u00a0Follow NCC’s President on X\u00a0@NCCPresDaveRuth<\/a>, and the college on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>, Instagram\u00a0@NorthamptonCommCollege<\/a>, TikTok\u00a0@NorthamptonCC<\/a>, and\u00a0Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Criminal justice advocate, Yusef Salaam, will be delivering the keynote address for the upcoming 2025 Annual Humanities lecture at the college in April. BETHLEHEM, PA\u00a0-Member of \u201cThe Exonerated Five,\u201d Dr. … Continue reading NCC Presents Member of \u201cThe Exonerated Five\u201d<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,5738,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-northampton-county","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/nccc.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/114454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}