OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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CORVALLIS - Film screenings, exhibitions, performances and other activities will highlight Oregon State University's Black History Month celebration in February.
"This academic year - not just for Black History Month - the Black Student Union is planning educational and scholarly events to promote understanding, freedom, justice, equality and what that means," said Paul James, coordinator of OSU's Ujima Educati on Office and Black Student Union faculty adviser.
The campus BSU is sponsoring many of OSU's Black History Month events, and all events are free and open to the public, he added.
For information on Black History Month events on campus, contact the Ujima Education Office at 541-737-9032, or 800-291-4192, Ext. 79032.
Among the highlights of the month is a lecture, "The African Presence in Early America: A Response to Academic Racism," by Ivan Van Sertima, professor of African American Studies at Rutgers University and also visiting professor at Princeton University. < p> Van Sertima's talk starts at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 4, in OSU's LaSells Stewart Center. Van Sertima was born in Guyana, South America. He was educated at the school of Oriental and African Studies (London University) and the Rutgers Graduate School and ho lds degrees in African studies and anthropology. He is the editor of the Journal of African Civilizations, which he founded in 1979, and has published several major anthologies influencing development of a new U.S. multicultural curriculum.
At 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 14, in LaSells Stewart Center, Maulana Karenga, will speak on "At the Crossroads of History with Harriet Tubman: Enduring Issues in a New Era."
Professor and chair of black studies at California State University, Long Beach, Karenga is widely known as the creator of Kwanzaa, an African American and Pan-African holiday.
Karenga is also the author of numerous scholarly articles and 10 books. His most recent work is "Odu Ifa: The Ethical Teachings," which is a translation, commentary and Kawaida interpretation of the spiritual and ethical teachings of sacred texts from the Yoruba culture.
Other events include:
7 p.m.: Second annual Black Student Union Dinner, with poetry and song. Valley Football Center.
6:45 p.m.: Movie Night, featuring "Amistad," the 1997 Steven Spielberg movie, based on the story of an 1839 revolt by Africans on the slave ship Amistad and their trial when they arrive on American soil. OSU Black Cultural Center, 25th Street and Monroe A venue.
7 p.m.: "The African Presence in Early America: A Response to Academic Racism," a talk by Ivan Van Sertima, professor of African American Studies at Rutgers University and also visiting professor at Princeton University. LaSells Stewart Center.
7 p.m.: Maulana Karenga, professor and chair of black studies at California State University, Long Beach, will speak on "At the Crossroads of History with Harriet Tubman: Enduring Issues in a New Era." LaSells Stewart Center.
6:45 p.m.: Movie Night, screening of "American History X," a 1998 film of unconditional hatred and redemption among brothers whose commitment to a neo-Nazi organization is destroying their lives and their family. OSU Black Cultural Center, 25th Street and Monroe Avenue.
9:30 p.m.: Sleep-over and screening of the movie "The Wood," a 1999 film based on writer/director Rick Famuyiwa's vivid memories of growing up in the middle-class African American neighborhood of Inglewood, Calif. with his boyhood pals. OSU Black Cultural Center, 25th Street and Monroe Avenue.
7 p.m.: Roundtable discussion on HIV-AIDS and the black community, facilitated by Paul James, coordinator of OSU's Ujima Education Office. MU Room 105.
Paul James, 541-737-9032
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