Gaines' talk, "Locking Up Pretty," will take place on March 5 at 7 p.m. in Dina's
Place. It's a free event and an approved cultural event. 
ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA Patrice Gaines will talk about her long journey from heroin user and abused woman to an award-winning
journalist and good mother on March 5 for the 17th Annual Dorothy Perry Thompson Colloquium.
The annual colloquium honors the late English Professor Dorothy Perry Thompson, the founder of Winthrop University's African American Studies program. The colloquium
also offers the opportunity to "bring in nationally- and internationally-renowned
writers and scholars to talk about different aspects of the African American experience."
Gaines' talk, "Locking Up Pretty," will take place at 7 p.m. in Dina's Place. The event is free and open to the public. It's also an approved cultural event.
Gaines spent weeks in jail at the age of 21 on a heroin possession charge, eventually
receiving five years' probation. At the time, she had a two-year-old daughter, and
was involved in an abusive relationship.
But she persevered: she attended community college at night. After being accepted
into the Summer Program for Minority Journalists, she embarked on a multi-decade career
as a reporter, including 16 years at The Washington Post.
More recently, Gaines co-founded the Brown Angel Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, an organization that offers services for healing and
empowerment to women and teenage girls, with an emphasis on incarcerated and formerly
incarcerated women. She also wrote her memoir "Laughing in the Dark."
For more information on Winthrop's African American Studies program and the colloquium,
visit the website.
