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, 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 Case Study of Dundun,” 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>.

Click here to download full schedule of events.