"What do you want to do?" the father asked.

The men had come to the Deep South as part of an innovative history class Tim was teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The father, a United Methodist minister, often cut to the human heart of matters, so his son knew this question wasn't about where they should eat.

"At first I thought it was strange," Tim Tyson recalled. A 42-year-old father of two, professor of Afro-American Studies and author of the prizewinning biography "Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power," he was not exactly adrift. But his father rightly suspected that his son had broader aspirations.

Before he could answer, something even stranger happened. A huge mockingbird -- "twice as big as any you've ever seen" -- swooped down three feet in front of them. It started singing, loud as could be, in music Tyson could only describe as jazz. They stood there, astonished.

"That's what I want to do," Tim declared.

In the seven years since, Timothy B. Tyson has gathered the chords of his life into a powerful theme that has proved more resonant than he or his father might ever have imagined.

In 2004, he published "Blood Done Sign My Name," a history/memoir about a 1970 racial murder in Oxford, N.C. Not only did the book become a phenomenon; it also redefined his life and what it means to be a public intellectual.

Tyson returned to North Carolina in 2005 to serve as John Hope Franklin Senior Fellow at the National Humanities Center, a post that quickly turned into a joint appointment at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill. Since then, rather than just retail his research into Southern history from the lectern and in print, Tyson has rolled up his sleeves to work with churches, schools, political leaders and others who share his desire to build community across the lines of race and ethnicity.

He appears free -- often two or three times a week -- at elementary schools and churches, from Asheville, Charlotte and Winston-Salem to Goldsboro, Greenville and Wilmington. Instead of giving talks, he holds conversations aimed not just at sharing what he knows but moving his audiences to grapple with difficult subjects and recognize their common humanity.

And first among equals in his efforts is the visionary class, "The South in Black & White," that he teaches at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham. Students come from Duke, UNC, N.C. Central University and throughout the community and leave with more than the credit hours they earn for the history lessons.

"The value of historical research is in how it helps us live our lives and shape the future together," he said. "I'm trying to change the conversation by helping people recognize the complexity and truth of our past but also the very hopeful fact that we can change."

A voice to lead

A hush falls over the crowd as gospel singer Mary D. Williams breaks into the great old song about the need for talk and the need for action:

The meeting at the building will soon be over,

Soon be over, soon be over.

The 300 students join in, smiling, singing and clapping along in the weekly ritual that opens each class.

The meeting at the building will soon be over all over this world,

All over this world, all over this world.

On this April day, Williams, a Raleigh resident who teaches the class with Tyson, sings two more songs before ending with the hymn that provided the title for Tyson's book. It promises that our earthly trials will lead to heavenly rewards.

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