Southeastern celebrates February as Black History Month
Contact: Christina Chapple, Amanda Barth
1/27/06
HAMMOND -- State Representative Roy J. Quezaire Jr. will be the keynote speaker for the February celebration of Black History Month at Southeastern Louisiana University.
The month-long celebration will also feature a variety of entertaining and educational events including the one woman show “Meet Mrs. Rosa Parks” and a forum focusing on the challenges of black Louisiana leaders during the recent hurricanes.
Black History Month, said Eric Summers, director of Multicultural and International Student Affairs, “is a time set aside to reflect on the accomplishments of African Americans both past and present. Here at Southeastern, many departments and student organizations have come together to create a celebration of African American culture and heritage through plays, music, and lectures.”
Quezaire, who has represented District 58 encompassing Ascension, Assumption, Iberville, St. James, and St. John the Baptist parishes since 1991, will present “How We Live: Past, Present, Future” on Feb. 2 at 6 p.m. in the Student Union ballroom. His lecture is sponsored by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.
As Rosa Parks, actor Melissa Waddy Thibodeaux will tell how a simple seat on a bus ignited -- and changed--a nation. “Meet Rosa Parks,” scheduled for Feb. 21 at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Union Theatre, will be followed by a question and answer session. The one-woman show is sponsored by the Campus Activities Board.
The Black History Month schedule also features a series of lectures by members of Southeastern’s departments of History and Political Science and Sociology and Criminal Justice. The series will conclude on Feb. 23 with a forum, “Louisiana’s Black Leaders and the Challenges of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” featuring African American officials at the state and local level. The forum will begin at 2 p.m. in the Student Union Theatre.
On Feb. 4, the Department of History and Political Science will host a teacher workshop for Region II social studies teachers through the university’s U.S. Department of Education grant funded “Teaching American History” program. Teachers interested in registering for “The Rise to Equality: African-Americans in Louisiana and U.S. History in the 20th & 21st Centuries” should contact Bill Robison, head of the Department of History and Political Science and academic coordinator for the grant, 985-549-2109.
The month’s activities will be outlined at the “Black History Month Celebration Kickoff” on Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. in the War Memorial Student Union Theater. Unless otherwise indicated, activities are free and open to the public.
The Black History Month schedule also includes:
-- Feb. 1, 7:30 p.m., Pottle Music Building Auditorium -- Southeastern Arts and Lectures will host guest artist concert pianist William Chapman Nyaho, a native of Ghana, West Africa, who will perform “Piano Music of the African Diaspora.”
-- Feb. 2, 2 p.m., Student Union ballroom -- Southeastern history faculty member Keith Finley will kick off the Department of History and Political Science’s Black History and Politics Lecture Series with “Segregation’s Less Conspicuous Friends: The Importance of Non-Southern U.S. Senators in Delaying Civil Rights Advances, 1938-1964.”
-- Feb. 7, 4 p.m., Student Union, room 227 -- Guest speaker Johnetta Scott will present “The Truth Uncovered,” hosted by Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority.
-- Feb. 7, 7 p.m., Student Union, room 223 -- Student organizations can have fun and win prizes by participating in Black History “Family Feud,” the popular game show with a Black history twist.
-- Feb. 8, 2 p.m., Fayard Hall, room 234 -- The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures will host “A.P. Tureaud Story,” a program illustrating the life of the first African American to attend Louisiana State University as an undergraduate.
-- Feb. 9, 2 p.m., Student Union Theater: Continuing the Black History and Politics Lecture Series, history faculty member Ronald Traylor will present “Land Ownership among Black Texans: A Southern Paradigm.”
-- Feb. 10, 8 p.m.-midnight, Student Union ballroom -- The Black Student Union and the Office of Multicultural and International Student Affairs will host the Ebony Scholarship Ball, a fundraiser for the Black Student Union Scholarship Fund.
-- Feb. 13, 15, & 17, 3 p.m., Sims’ Library, room 252 -- The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures will host a series of presentations, “Discovering North Africa: The Maghreb,” that will discuss the history and culture of African tribes of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.
-- Feb. 20, noon, Student Union Theater – The Black History and Politics series will continue with Yanyi Djamba, Southeastern assistant professor of sociology, on “A Bio-Sociological Perspective on the Geography of HIV/AIDS.”
-- Feb 20, 6 p.m., Student Union Theater -- A lively variety show, “All Things Black: A Night of Black Culture and Art,” will feature poetry, singing, dancing, lectures, and a performance by the Southeastern Gospel Choir.
-- Feb. 22, 7 p.m., Student Union ballroom: Alpha Phi Alpha and the office of Student Organizations and Greek Life will sponsor the Black Greek Success Program. Eddie Francis, a New Orleans native, will motivate students to grow as individuals in and outside of the classroom as well as in the home and on the job.
-- Feb. 25, 6 p.m., Twelve Oaks. Black History Month will conclude with the NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet, which will honor community members who have made a difference. Tickets, $30, are available through Pat Morris, 985-517-4267.
For more information on Black History Month events, contact Summers, 985-549-3850. The schedule is also available online at www2.selu.edu/webmaillinks/blackhistorymonth06.html.
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