Black History Month Activities Focus on African Americans and Voting

Posted January 31, 2020, 2:07PM

North Carolina Central University (NCCU) will commemorate Black History Month with a series of events that are free and open to the public.

Film screenings, lectures, panel discussions and musical and theatrical performances will take place throughout February, including appearances by nationally noted activists, authors, scholars and educators.

On Feb. 3, the Department of Political Science will kick off events with a panel discussion on “Voting Rights Guaranteed or Suppressed: Examining the 15th Amendment” at 6 p.m. in the Mary Townes Science Complex, Room 1223. 

Additional Black History Month activities, sponsored by the Department of History, include a presentation by Brandon K. Winford, Ph.D., assistant professor of history at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, speaking on “Black Business Activism in the Mid-Twentieth South.” Winford is author of “John Hervey Wheeler, Black Banking, and the Economic Struggle for Civil Rights” published in December. Winford's lecture will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 6 in the Miller Morgan Building Auditorium. 

On Feb. 12, Glen Harris, Ph.D., a former NCCU professor, will speak on “Alexander McAllister Rivera: The Domestic and International Dimensions of a Black Photojournalist.” Harris’s lecture will be at 10 a.m. in Edmonds Classroom Building, Room 207.

NCCU Department of Music faculty members Lenora Helm Hammonds, Tim Holley and Aleen Pocock will appear  Thursday, Feb. 18, at B.N. Duke Auditorium at 6:30 p.m. The performance celebrates the legacy of iconic composer Florence Prince.

NCCU Department of History Professor Jerry Gershenhorn, Ph.D., will give a lecture on “The Power of the Press: Southern Black Journalists and the 20th Century Freedom Struggle.” Gershenhorn will speak at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25 in the Hubbard-Totten Building Auditorium.

Other highlights include:

  • Black Women of Durham and the NCCU Section of National Council of Negro Women will present the Black Women’s Roundtable at 9 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 8, in the School of Education Auditorium. 
  • The movie “School Daze” will be screened at 7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 12, in the Alfonso Elder Student Union, with a discussion to follow. 
  • Black Art Bazaar, an art exhibit showcasing various artists at 7 p.m., will take place Wednesday, Feb. 19, in the Alfonso Elder Student Union. 
  • Robert L. Trowers, lecturer in the Department of Music, will perform at 4 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 20, in the Ruth Edwards Recital Hall a composition titled “HR-57, Carter G. Woodson and Music Education.”
  • The university’s Honda Campus All-Stars quiz team will challenge the Caulbert A. Jones History Club during the Black History Quiz Bowl at 6:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 24, in the Alfonso Elder Student Union.
  • Students from the departments of Art, Music, and Theatre and Dance will perform “Dreamgirls,” throughout the month of February in the Farrison-Newton Communications Building Auditorium. The performances will take place at 8 p.m., February 14 – 15; at 3 p.m., Sunday, February 16; at 8 p.m., Friday, February 21-22; and at 8 p.m., Sunday, February 23 at 3 p.m. 

For more information, call the Department of History at 919-530-6321.

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