Salem Award For Human Rights And Social Justice Honors Journalist

SALEM, MA — The Salem-based social justice advocacy group Voices Against Injustice will honor its 2022 Salem Award winner along with screening of a pair of a trio of exhibitions at its annual event at the Peabody Essex Museum on Nov. 15.

Voices Against Injustice uses the lessons learned from the Salem Witch Trials to champion human rights and confront fear and social injustice with courage. The group annually awards the 2022 Salem Award for Human Rights and Human Injustice.

This year's award goes to longtime journalist and editor Jerry Mitchell, who spent three decades investigating civil rights cases that had gone cold. He founded the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, the mission of which is to "improve lives, bring reform, expose injustices, give a voice to the voiceless, shine the spotlight on fraud, corruption and wrongdoing, and highlight the unseen champions of what is right."

Mitchell is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and recipient of more than 20 national awards.

Along with the presentation, the event will include screenings of "Let None Be Excluded: The Origins of Equal School Rights in Salem" and the "Towne Sisters Papers."

The program will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the East India Marine Hall at the PEM at 161 Essex Street. The speaking portion of the program beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 15 followed by a reception in the main atrium and a musical accompaniment by Wangari Fahari and a viewing of "On This Ground: Being and Belonging in America."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)