More than 50 years ago, a 19-year-old college student named Joan Trumpauer Mulholland bought a flight to Mississippi and joined the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement. It was 1961, the year that dozens of sit-ins occurred in diners and drugstores and the same year that the Freedom Rides challenged segregated interstate bus travel […]
American political activist and author Angela Davis will serve as the 2012 James Farmer Visiting Lecturer and Black History Month Keynote speaker at UMW. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium.
The lecture is sponsored by the James Farmer Visiting Professor Committee and the AT&T Student Leadership Colloquium. For more information, contact Courtney Chapman-Thomas, director of leadership and strategic initiatives, at (540) 654-1665.
For more information about Davis, read the press release from Thursday, Feb. 9.
Join the James Farmer Multicultural Center for the commencement of the 2012 Black History Month Celebration as Ewabo plays an eclectic range of music that incorporates soul, R&B, and funk music on Caribbean steel drums.
Simpson Library will feature written and digital resources from the UMW libraries collections that highlight prominent African-American women and African-American history and culture.
Eagle Dining will feature African and Caribbean cuisines.
André Robert Lee’s film portrays how a full scholarship to a Philadelphia prep school was supposed to be his way out of the ghetto, how he paid a high personal cost for the elite education, and looks inside today’s continuing racial naïveté. Co-sponsored by the James Farmer Visiting Professor Committee, James Farmer Postdoctoral Fellow in Civil Rights and Social Justice, Office of Student Affairs, Department of History and American Studies, and Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
The UMW Faculty Jazz Ensemble will feature works by legendary African-American jazz musicians. Co-sponsored by the UMW Department of Music.
An evening of gospel music and spiritual uplift with choirs, singing groups, and praise dance teams. Co-sponsored by Voices of Praise.
An icon of the nation’s quest for social justice, activist and scholar Angela Davis has spent decades building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender equality. The author of eight books, Davis has served for the last 15 years as professor of feminist studies and professor of history of consciousness, an interdisciplinary doctoral program, at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Co-sponsored by the James Farmer Visiting Professor Committee, James Farmer Multicultural Center, and the AT&T Student Leadership Colloquium.
The Black Student Association will celebrate African and African-American culture with a talent show and Pan-African fashion show.
Eagle Dining will feature Creole and Southern soul cuisines.
Donate blood or to volunteer to assist with this event, email tragland@mail.umw.edu.
Georgetown University Assistant Professor of History Marcia Chatelain will explore the role of African-American women’s activism in desegregation and in transforming national girls’ organizations. Co-sponsored by the Women’s and Gender Studies Program and the Department of History and American Studies.
An array of the area’s most talented step teams will engage in a high energy, entertaining competition. Co-sponsored by Women of Color and the Black Student Association.
A disciple of Gandhi, a mentor to Martin Luther King Jr., and the architect of the 1963 March on Washington, Bayard Rustin was an openly gay man during the fiercely homophobic ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s. This documentary explores his activism for peace, racial equality, economic justice, and human rights. Sponsored by PRISM- People for the Rights of Sexual Minorities.
BLACK HISTORY IS…
Celebrate and Educate
Black History Month celebrates the journey that African Americans have traveled over time. Their path has been filled with struggles and acts of perseverance. We come together this month to honor, celebrate, and educate everyone about the movements and achievements that have transformed society. The James Farmer Multicultural Center, the Black History Month committee, and the Black Student Association (BSA) invite you to reflect on this journey and join us in celebrating all the progress that has been made. We continue to hope that, as a people and a society, we will further strive to achieve a nation where social justice and equal opportunity become a reality for all Americans.
*Cuisines of Black Cultures, Seacobeck Hall
Cost: one meal-plan meal or $7.75 for lunch, $9.90 for dinner (plus tax)
Feb. 7 – dinner; Feb. 21 – lunch, Select Mondays in February
Campus Dining Services will celebrate Black History Month by featuring
dishes from African, Caribbean, Creole, and Southern soul cuisines.
*My Journey: African-American Stories
Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011
6 p.m., Lee Hall, Room 411
An open-panel discussion of the journey of several African-American
UMW and Fredericksburg community members who will relate
personal experiences in their professions. Refreshments provided.
*Celebration Keynote Performance: Saul Williams
Friday, Feb. 4, 2011
7 p.m., Dodd Auditorium, George Washington Hall
Experience the lyrical force of Saul Williams’ spoken word art. Williams
is a former Grand Slam Champion and HBO Def Poetry Jam performer
who explores social consciousness through his poetry.
*Eric Etheridge – Breach of Peace: Portraits of
the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders
Monday, Feb. 7, 2011
7 p.m., Great Hall, Woodard Campus Center
Reception to follow.
Etheridge is the author, journalist, and photographer behind Breach
of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders, a “then-and-now”
memoir of individuals who took part in the Freedom Rides of 1961.
Part of the James Farmer Visiting Professor Lecturer Series,
in collaboration with Freedom Riders 50th Anniversary Commemoration.
*“The Negro Zone” Discussion
Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011
6 p.m., Lee Hall, Room 411
Panel members will discuss this short, satirical film that addresses
stereotypes African-American men face in the United States. Refreshments
provided. Co-sponsored by Brothers of a New Direction (BOND) and BSA.
*Comedy Performance featuring Jordan Carlos
Friday, Feb. 11, 2011
8 p.m., Great Hall, Woodard Campus Center
Jordan Carlos is a Brooklyn-based comic raised in suburban North
Dallas where he was the only black kid in class and at all the bar mitzvahs.
He has appeared as Stephen Colbert’s black friend, “Alan,” on the Colbert
Report and performed on Comedy Central’s Live at Goth. Sponsored by
GIANTProductions.
*Step Show
Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011
6:30 p.m. – doors open, 7 p.m. – show begins
Dodd Auditorium, George Washington Hall
Cost: $7; $5 with UMW ID
Join an array of the most talented area step teams performing in this high
energy, entertaining competition. Co-sponsored by Women of Color, BOND,
and the Fredericksburg Area Boys and Girls Club.
*Candido: Hands of Fire
Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011
6 p.m., Lee Hall, Room 411
Ivan Acosta directed Candido: Hands of Fire, a documentary about a well-known
Afro-Cuban percussionist, Candido Camero. The audience will be
treated to a viewing of this documentary followed by a discussion led by
Mr. Acosta. Co-sponsored by the departments of Modern Foreign Languages
and English.
*HIV/AIDS in the Black Community: A Panel Discussion
Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011
6 p.m., Lee Hall, Room 411
Black Americans have been disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS and
that disparity continues to grow. Sponsored jointly by BSA, People for the
Rights of Individuals of Sexual Minorities (PRISM), and Fredericksburg’s
Home of Miracles and Embraces (H.O.M.E).
*A Night of Jazz: Performance and Discussion
Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011
8 p.m., The Underground, Lee Hall
Join Doug Gately for a discussion of jazz music in the African-American
community and enjoy a performance by the UMW Faculty Jazz Sextet. Co-sponsored by the UMW Department of Music.
*Gospelfest
Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011
6 p.m., Great Hall, Woodard Campus Center
Enjoy an evening of gospel music and spiritual uplift with choirs, singing
groups, and praise dance teams as they display their musical talents.
*Coming Out? African-American Culture and Sexuality
Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011
6 p.m., Lee Hall, Room 411
A candid discussion about stereotypes surrounding black homophobia and
non-heterosexual lifestyles. Co-sponsored by BSA and PRISM.
*Gay Rights versus Civil Rights
Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011
7 p.m., Lee Hall, Room 411
Involved in the struggle for both GLBT and civil rights equality,
Fredericksburg musician and activist Gaye Adegbalola presents a unique
and personal interpretation. Sponsored by PRISM.
