UNCA Celebrates Black History Month with a Variety of Progams

Julian Bond

UNC Asheville will celebrate Black History Month throughout February with a range of special events. Among the highlights will be a keynote address by civil rights legend Julian Bond and a gospel music festival. Events are free and open to the public.

** More than a dozen local readers will participate in the nationwide African American Read-In at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1, in UNCA’s Laurel Forum, 139 Karpen Hall. Each will read selections by their favorite African American writers. On the first Sunday or Monday of Black History Month, people gather across the U.S. as part of a national reading chain to celebrate the works of African American authors.

** NAACP Chairman and civil rights legend Julian Bond will give the UNCA Black History Month keynote address at 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, at UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium. A reception will follow. Bond’s talk, "Affirmative Action: The Just Spoils of a Righteous War," will examine the historical ramifications of the 1954 landmark case of Brown vs. Board of Education.

Bond has served as NAACP chairman since 1998. He is a distinguished professor at American University and a professor of history at the University of Virginia. A life-long civil rights leader, Bond first came to public prominence in 1961 as a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and as an organizer of Atlanta’s first sit-ins.

** An art exhibition by noted African American artist Harry Davis will be on display from 2-8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, and from 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7, in UNCA’s Laurel Forum, 139 Karpen Hall. Davis, a Wilmington resident, has become a respected painter of African and rural Southern life. His works are held in the collections of Halle Berry, James Brown, Bill Cosby and Denzel Washington, among others. His painting, "The Pipe Player," was singled out by U.S. Art Gallery magazine recently as a notable work.

**  Step Afrika will perform their high-energy dance moves at 9 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9, in UNCA's Lipinsky Auditorium. This collaborative ensemble is a made up of young artists from the U.S and South Africa. Step Afrika's repertoire includes stepping, tap, South African, clogging, hip-hop, house and freestyle dance moves.

** JoAnne McKnight, author of the recently published "The Inverted Crow: Me Ole Battleground," will hold a book signing and reception at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, in UNCA’s Reuter Center. Book sales will benefit KIPP: Asheville Youth Academy, the YMI Cultural Center and WRES-FM. McKnight is a protégé of the late Owen Dodson, a Harlem Renaissance writer and theatrical director. She is a playwright who specializes in musical dramas and currently serves as artistic director and teacher at the Asheville Youth Academy’s Young People's Theater. "The Inverted Crow," which focuses on personal spiritual growth, is McKnight’s first novel.

** David Lash, an educator from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, will discuss "Jewish Multiculturalism: Black-Jewish Relationships" at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, in UNCA’s Laurel Forum, 139 Karpen Hall. A discussion will follow his lecture.

** UNCA will sponsor a reading by acclaimed local poet Glennis Redmond at 1:45 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, at the Asheville Catholic School. Redmond is the 1997 and 1998 Southeast Regional Individual Poetry Slam Champion and has twice placed in the National Individual Slam Championships top ten. She has received numerous awards, including the Carrie McCray Literary Award in poetry, and is the author of three chapbooks.

** "Gospel Fest: A Celebration in Song" will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 29, at UNCA’s Lipinsky Auditorium. The event will feature several local gospel choirs, including the Asheville Faith Tabernacle Christian Center Crusaders, the Asheville Hill Street Baptist Church Gospel Choir, the Hickory Friendship Baptist Church Gospel Choir and the East Tennessee State University Gospel Choir.

** An exhibition of 13 large oil paintings by noted African American painter Tarleton Blackwell will be on view during Black History Month at UNCA’s Blowers Gallery, located on the main floor of Ramsey Library. Blackwell, a South Carolina native, is the Martha Beach Endowed Chair in Painting at the University of North Carolina Pembroke, where he serves as visiting professor and artist-in-residence. His work has been displayed in over 170 gallery exhibitions, including the Charlotte Mint Museum, the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, S.C., and the Alternative Museum in New York. The gallery is open during regular library hours. For hours of operation, call UNCA's Ramsey Library at 828/251-6546.

** The Center for Diversity Education’s historical exhibition, "An Unmarked Trail: Stories of African Americans in Buncombe County from 1850-1900," will be on display during February on the second floor of UNCA’s Zageir Hall near room 222. The exhibition focuses on primary source documents and eyewitness accounts.

For more information about these Black History Month events, call UNCA’s Multicultural Student Programs Office at 828/232-5110.

Media Contacts:

• Deirdre Wiggins, UNCA Multicultural Student Programs Office Director, 828/232-5110
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526