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Lafayette will celebrate Black History Month during February with the theme “Reflections of Black Life: Struggles and Achievements.”
Events include lectures, art exhibits, discussions, performances, an African market, and workshops. For more information about the College’s Black History Month celebration, contact the Office of Intercultural Development at x5819 or email.
The celebration’s keynote address will be presented by civil rights attorney Theodore Shaw. His lecture, “Reflections on Race and Identity in Obama’s ‘Post-Racial’ America,” is part of the Presidential Lecture Series on Diversity, and will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, in the Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, room 104.
Shaw served on the Obama transition team at the U.S. Department of Justice and teaches at the Columbia University School of Law. He was president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 2004 to 2008 and was involved in numerous landmark cases during his tenure with the organization.
This year’s Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Visiting Lecturer will be Kwame Anthony Appiah, an author and the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. He will present, “Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers,” at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19 in the Kirby Hall of Civil Rights room 104.
An exhibition of works by Philadelphia artist Moe A. Brooker. Listen With Your Eyes will be on display through Feb. 28 in the Grossman Gallery, Williams Visual Arts Building. As part of the College’s Temple Visiting Lecture series, Brooker will deliver a public lecture at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, in room 108 of the Williams Center for the Arts, with a reception following. He also will interact with faculty and students and create a new work on paper at the Experimental Printmaking Institute.
There will be three other lectures. Author Ashley Kahn will present his research of the Miles Davis classic recording Kind of Blue at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9 in the Williams Center for the Arts room 108. Jacqueline Murekatete, a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan Tutsi genocide, and Dave Gewirtzman, a Holocaust survivor, will speak about the horrors of genocide at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10 in Oechsle Hall room 224. Author John Fass Morton will discuss Duke Ellington’s career-reviving performance at the Newport Jazz Festival of 1956 at 4:10 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25 in Gendebien Room of Skillman Library.
An exhibit featuring art from painter and printmaker William T. Williams will run in the Williams Center for the Arts Gallery through March 7. The exhibit, William T. Williams: Theme and Variations, pulls from Williams’ 40 years as an artist and includes a painting and 17 serigraphs which demonstrate his desire to integrate the content of his personal experiences with his knowledge of the modern aesthetic.
Featured in the Portlock Black Cultural Center Gallery will be works by renowned artist Theodore A. Harris. The exhibit, Where Would America Be Without Chains? chronicles the physical and spiritual journey of African Americans and runs Feb. 2 through March 11.
Black History Month performances include The SpokenWorld by hip-hop, spoken word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6 and four-time Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7, both at the Williams Center for the Arts.
There will also be a special theatrical performance, “Life of David McDonogh: A Dramatic Presentation,” which will tell the story of David Kearney McDonogh 1844, Lafayette’s first black graduate. Christopher Duru ’10 will play David McDonogh and Paul Sommers ’09 will be slave-owner John McDonogh. The performance will be at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12 in Colton Chapel.
Schedule of Events:
Jan. 29- March 7 – William T. Williams: Theme and Variations, Williams Center for the Arts Gallery
Feb. 2- Feb. 28 – Listen With Your Eyes, Grossman Gallery, Williams Visual Arts Building
Feb. 2- March 11 – Theodore A. Harris Where Would America Be Without Chains? exhibit, Portlock Black Cultural Center Gallery
Feb. 3 – African Market, Farinon College Center, 11 a.m. -2 p.m.
Feb. 5 – Hip-Hop Spoken Word Workshop with Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Marlo Room of Farinon College Center, 7 p.m.
Feb. 6 – The SpokenWorld by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Williams Center for the Arts, 8 p.m.
Feb. 7 – Jazz vocalist Diane Reeves performance, Williams Center for the Arts, 8 p.m.
Feb. 9 – Author Ashley Kahn presents “Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece” Williams Center room 108, 7 p.m.
Feb. 10 – Rwandan genocide survivor Jacqueline Murekatete and Holocaust survivor Dave Gewirtzman speak out against intolerance, Oechsle Hall room 224, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 12 – “Life of David McDonogh: A Dramatic Presentation,” Colton Chapel, 4:30 p.m.
Feb. 13 – Campus Sex and Relationships Workshop, Portlock Black Cultural Center, 4:15 p.m.
Feb. 16 – Artist Reception for Theodore A. Harris “Where Would America Be Without Chains?” Portlock Black Cultural Center, 4:30 p.m.
Feb. 18 – “We Speak” Black History Month Student Panel, Interfaith Chapel – Hogg Hall, noon
Feb. 18 – Moe A. Brooker presents the Temple Visiting lecture, Williams Center room 108, 4 p.m.
Feb. 19 Kwame Anthony Appiah presents the Jones Lecture, “Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers,” Kirby Hall of Civil Rights room 104, 8 p.m.
Feb. 23 — “The Evolving McDonogh Story,” a presentation by College Archivist Diane Windham Shaw and Ng’ang’a wa Muchiri ’09, Gendebien Room, Skillman Library, noon
Feb. 24 – Civil rights attorney Theodore Shaw presents the Black History Month keynote address, “Reflections on Race and Identity in Obama’s ‘Post-Racial’ America,” Kirby Hall of Civil Rights room 104, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 25 – Author John Fass Morton presents “Backstory in Blue: Ellington at Newport ’56,” Gendebien Room of Skillman Library, 4:10 p.m.
Feb. 26 – Professional dance company Step Afrika presents step workshop, Farinon College Center, 7 p.m.