Marion Thompson Wright Lecture Series @ Rutgers-Newark

Richard Kearney sends along this notice: "This looks like a first-rate program and a chance to meet some major contemporary historians....right down the road at my alma mater Rutgers-Newark. And it's FREE too."

One of New Jersey's oldest and most highly esteemed Black History Month events, the Marion Thompson Wright Lecture Series, will mark its 25th anniversary by examining evolutionary changes in the study and scholarship of African-American history. Co-sponsored by the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture and the Modern Experience, the Federated Dept. of History, Rutgers-Newark/ New Jersey Institute of Technology; and the New Jersey Historical Commission, Dept. of State, this free lecture series will take place at the Paul Robeson Campus Center on the Rutgers-Newark campus, Friday, Feb. 18, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 19, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The event features keynote speaker Dr. James Oliver Horton, president of the Organization of American Historians and the Benjamin Banneker Professor of American Studies and History at George Washington University. His address, "A Different Story: The Meaning of African American History for America," will headline Saturday's agenda.

Eminent historians, including Professors P. Sterling Stuckey of the University of California, Riverside, Nell Irvin Painter of Princeton University and David Roediger of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will kick-off the two-day program on Friday, February 18, at 4 p.m. with a panel discussion, "Reflections on the Evolution of African American Historical Scholarship." Professor Adrienne Petty of Rutgers-Newark will moderate the panel, which will be followed by a wine and cheese reception, featuring the Bradford Hayes Trio.

Saturday's lecture program will continue in the afternoon with Cornell University Professor Margaret Washington, the award-winning author of "A Peculiar People: Slave Religion and Community Culture Among the Gullahs," sharing her expertise on slave religion, culture and the social and political dimensions of African American cultural expressions. Michael Gomez of New York University will follow her with a discussion on "Diasporic Africa in Slavery and Freedom."

Special panel discussions will offer an insightful look into "Black Beauty Parlors and the Political Maturation of 20th Century Women," by Professor Tiffany Gill of the University of Texas and an assessment of the impact of "African American Hollywood Stars of the 1930's" by Dr. Miriam Petty, the 2004-2005 Geraldine R. Dodge Fellow at Rutgers-Newark. And, Professor Anastasia C. Curwood of Boston College will examine "The Private Lives of Black Americans during the Life and Times of E. Franklin Frazier, 1894-1962."

For more information, email ethnicity@andromeda.rutgers.edu or call 973/353-1871, ext.11.
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Marisa Pierson
Program Coordinator
Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience (IECME)
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
337 Conklin Hall, 175 University Ave.
Newark, NJ 07102
Phone: 973.353.1871 x11
Fax: 973.353.5218
E-Mail: mpierson@andromeda.rutgers.edu
ethnicity.rutgers.edu