Get in the Way: The Journey of John Lewis documentary

Feb. 7
6:30 p.m.
Student Center South Theatre

African American Studies presents Get in the Way, the first documentary biography of John Lewis, civil rights hero, congressional leader, and human rights champion whose unwavering fight for justice spans the past 50 years. The featured guest speaker is the documentary’s filmmaker, Kathleen Dowdey. This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Diversity and Inclusion.

African American Studies Lecture Series  

Feb. 9
11:30 a.m.
Agnes Arnold Hall, room 210

Dr. Doreatha D. Mbalia, professor in the department of Africology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, will present a lecture titled, One People, One Destiny: Africology Departments and the Quest for Pan-Africanism.

African Rhythms documentary about the World Festival of Negro Arts

Feb. 13
6:30 p.m.
Student Center South Theatre

Held in Dakar in 1966, the World Festival of Negro Arts was the first state-sponsored festival to showcase the work of black artists, musicians and writers to a global audience. Organized by Senegal’s first president Léopold Sédar Senghor, one of the founding members of the cultural and political movement négritude, the World Festival of Negro Arts provided the first occasion for many black artists, musicians, writers, poets and actors to participate in a global examination of African culture.  Bouna S. Ndiaye, producer and host of "Bonjour Africa", a syndicated radio program distributed on FM radio stations in the U.S., is the featured guest speaker.

African American Studies Lecture Series 

Feb. 14
11:30 a.m.
Agnes Arnold Hall, room 210

Dr. Valethia Watkins, director of the Women's Studies Graduate Certificate Program and assistant professor of Africana Studies in the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, will present a lecture titled, Africana Studies and Gender: Non-Aligned Women and the Politics of Feminism.

The Wilmington Ten discussion and book signing

Feb. 16
11:30 am
Agnes Arnold Hall, room 210

In February 1971, racial tension surrounding school desegregation in Wilmington, North Carolina, culminated in four days of violence and skirmishes between white vigilantes and black residents. Ten young persons were convicted of arson and conspiracy and then sentenced to a total of 282 years in prison. They became known internationally as the Wilmington Ten. Dr. Kenneth Janken narrates the dramatic story of the Ten, connecting their story to a larger arc of Black Power and the transformation of post-Civil Rights era political organizing.  Dr. Janken is professor of African American and Diaspora studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and director of the UNC Center for the Study of the American South.