Changing the Game, Changing Charlotte

From the Shrine Bowl to a Civil Rights Legacy
Thursday, November 19, 2026 | 5:30-9:00 p.m.
Levine Museum of the New South

Changing the Game, Changing Charlotte uses the story of Jimmie Lee Kirkpatrick to examine courage, legal action and systemic change. In 1965, Kirkpatrick helped lead Myers Park High School to its only undefeated football season but was excluded from the North Carolina–South Carolina Shrine Bowl, which had never selected a Black player. Civil rights attorney Julius L. Chambers challenged the exclusion as racial discrimination. Days later, bombs exploded at the Charlotte homes of Chambers and fellow civil rights leaders Dr. Reginald Hawkins, Fred Alexander and Kelly Alexander. The following year, Black athletes participated in the Shrine Bowl, while Chambers and his firm continued challenging racial barriers in education and public life. Through archival footage and a moderated conversation, the program will explore this history and its lasting impact on Charlotte.

Featured voices will include Jimmie Lee and De Kirkpatrick; longtime Charlotte Observer sportswriter Gary Schwab; Chambers biographer Rich Rosen; former Chambers law firm attorney and Congressman Melvin Watt; members of Shrine Bowl player Titus Ivory’s family; and athlete Michael Bennett.

A reception begins at 5:30 p.m., followed by the program at 6:15 p.m.  Book sales and an author signing with H.D. Kirkpatrick, Melvin Watt and Rich Rosen will follow.

Presented by the Kirkpatrick Foundation, hosted by Levine Museum of the New South and developed in collaboration with RP3 Strategies, the evening invites us to remember a pivotal chapter in Charlotte’s history and consider how its legacy continues to shape the city we are becoming.

Registration is required. Space is limited.

The Mecklenburg Bar Association has approved this event for Continuing Legal Education credit