North Carolina Central University Celebrates Black History Month

DURHAM, N.C. – North Carolina Central University will celebrate Black History Month in its Centennial Year with a series of events that are free and open to the public. The keynote speaker is Glenn Harris, associate professor, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, who will address this year’s theme, “The History of Black Economic Empowerment.”  The lecture is scheduled for Monday, February 15, at 3 p.m. in the H.M. Michaux, Jr. School of Education Auditorium.

On Tuesday, February 9, Dr. Ben Carson, director, Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, will speak from his book, Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence, in the McDougald – McLendon Gymnasium, at 3 p.m.  A book signing and reception will follow the program.

The stage comedy, “Dance on Widow’s Row” by playwright and North Carolina native Samm-Art Williams will open at the University Theatre, Friday, February 12, at 8 p.m.  NCCU students will lend their talents to this production set in Port Town – a fictional, coastal community.  This play was featured in the 2001 National Black Theater Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C.  Kenneth Hinton, adjunct instructor, is the director.

Other highlights include a lecture by Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence, Oluwafemi Faseum, “Talking Drums as Instruments for Music Making and Communication in West Africa,” a cello recital, “A Cello Recital of Negro Spirituals,” by Associate Professor Timothy Holley, and what has been billed as an “African American Cultural Explosion,” sponsored by the Earle E. Thorpe Historian Society.  For more details, visit <www.nccu.edu>.

North Carolina Central University is the first publicly supported liberal arts college for African-Americans and this year, U.S. News & World Report ranked NCCU among the top ten HBCUs in the country.  As NCCU celebrates its Centennial Year, a diverse student body of more than 8,500 students is enrolled in programs such as law, business, library science, nursing, education, and biotechnology.

Black History Month  Events:

Discussion/Presentation –  “Youth for Justice”
Date & Time:  February 1, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Location: Alfonso Elder Student Union, Room 146 – 146A
Description: Speakers include Tomasi Larry, Benita Artis, Charmaine Troy and Norma Petway

Lecture –  “Talking Drums As Instruments For Music Making And Communication In West Africa”
Date & Time:  February 2, 5:30 p.m.
Location:  BRITE Building, Room 1050
Description: The event speaker will be Oluwafemi Faseum, Fulbright scholar-in-residence, NCCU Department of Music.

Film –  “Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin”
Date & Time:  February 2, 6 p.m.
Location: Miller – Morgan Building, Auditorium
Description: The NCCU Department of Public Health Education will sponsor this event.  A reception will follow the film.

Lecture –  “Marcus Garvey: Race First”
Date & Time:  February 3, 3 p.m. 
Location: Edmonds Classroom Building, Room 201
Description: The event speaker will be Balca Ceesay, NCCU undergraduate student.

Discussion –  “Hayti and the Parrish Street Gang During the Jim Crow Era”
Date & Time:  February 4, 2:30 p.m.
Location: Edmonds Classroom Building, Room 207
Description: The event speaker will be André Vann, university archivist.

Film –  “Favela Rising”
Date & Time:  February 5, 11 a.m. 
Location: Edmonds Classroom Building, Room 205
Description: The NCCU Department of History will sponsor this event.

Exhibit – “Alexander (Alex) Rivera: Pioneer Photojournalist for Black America”
Date & Time:  February 7, 2 p.m.
Location: NCCU Museum of Art
Description: The exhibit will run through April 23.

Lecture/ Video Presentation –  “Reviewing A Colored School, A Narrative Film on Black Education, Self-Determination, and Pride: Parallels to the NCCU Traditional Experience”
Date & Time:  February 8, 1 p.m. 
Location: Edmonds Classroom Building, Room 207
Description: The event speaker will be Janice Dargan, visiting assistant professor, NCCU Department of English and Mass Communication.

Lecture – Lyceum Program Speaker Dr. Ben Carson
Date & Time:  February 9, 3 p.m. 
Location: McDougald – McLendon Gymnasium
Description: Dr. Ben Carson, director, Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, will speak.

Lecture – “The Right Man: The Genealogy of James Edward Shepard, 1875– 1947”
Date & Time:  February 10, 3 p.m.
Location: Edmonds Classroom Building, Room 203
Description: Historian Henry Lewis Suggs will speak.

Lecture –  “Uncovering the Lost Papacy: The Three Black Popes”
Date & Time:  February 11, 10:45 a.m.
Location: Edmonds Classroom Building, Room 207
Description: NCCU undergraduate student James Blackwell will speak.

Play –  “Dance on Widow’s Row”
Date & Time:  February 12, 13, 19 & 20, 8 p.m.
Location: Farrison Newton-Communications, University Theatre
Description: A Samm– Art Williams comedy, directed by NCCU visiting lecturer Ken Hinton, will be performed by NCCU’s Department of Theatre.

Lecture – “The History of Black Economic Empowerment”
Date & Time:  February 15, 3 p.m.
Location: H.M. Michaux, Jr. School of Education, Auditorium
Description: Glenn Harris, associate professor, University of North Carolina at Wilmington will offer this keynote address.

Presentation –  “President Barack Obama: Identity and Dreams of My Father”
Date & Time:  February 16, 6 p.m.
Location: Edmonds Classroom Building, Room 207
Description: Michael V. Taliefero, NCCU undergraduate student will speak.

Lecture –  “NCCU’s Economic Impact on the Durham Community”
Date & Time:  February 17, 3 p.m.
Location: C.T. Willis Commerce Building, Room 315
Description: Andrea Harris, president of N.C. Institute of Minority Economic Development, will speak.

Lecture –  “Infected with Fear: White Supremacy in North Carolina Politics 1876– 1965”
Date & Time:  February 17, 7 p.m.
Location: Edmonds Classroom Building, Room 201
Description: A.J. Donaldson, NCCU graduate student, will speak.

Film –  “The Jackie Robinson Story”
Date & Time:  February 18, 11 a.m. 
Location: Edmonds Classroom Building, Room 205
Description: The NCCU Department of History will sponsor this event.

Lecture –  “It is Deeper than Rap: ‘Caught the Jingle but not the Music,’ Gangsta Rap and Black Masculinity”
Date & Time:  February 18, 1 p.m.
Location: Edmonds Classroom Building, Room 201 – B
Description: Brian Robinson, NCCU graduate student, will speak.

Seminar –  “Somebody Had to do it: Children on the Front Lines of School Desegregation—Engaging HBCU Students as Researchers “
Date & Time:  February 19, 1 p.m.
Location: Alfonso Elder Student Union, Room 146 – 146A
Description: Paula Q. Hall, NCCU associate professor, and Millicent E. Brown, associate professor, Claflin University will speak.

Film –  “Black Panthers and San Francisco State: On Strike”
Date & Time:  February 22, 11 a.m.
Location: Edmonds Classroom Building, Room 205
Description: The NCCU Department of History will sponsor this event.

Lecture – “Grace Campbell: Cooperatives and Black Economic Empowerment”
Date & Time:  February 23, 6 p.m.
Location: Edmonds Classroom Building, Room 201
Description: Lydia Lindsey, NCCU associate professor will speak. •