The University of Texas at El Paso will honor Black History Month with celebrations that pay tribute to a century of outstanding achievements by African-Americans in literature, music, athletics and the civil rights movement.
Organized by UTEP’s African-American Studies Program, the University’s Black History Month celebration through Feb. 23 features half-a-dozen events tied to this year’s theme, “A Century of Black Life, History and Culture.” All events are free and open to the public.
Among the notable presenters is U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama, who will deliver the keynote address at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, in the Geology Reading Room on the third floor of the Geological Sciences Building. Sewell is the first African-American woman elected to Congress from Alabama. She will talk about “Civil Rights Progress Since Selma,” followed by a Q-and-A with UTEP students.
“We’re very proud to have so many progressive people involved in our celebration by participating with us in recognizing the remarkable accomplishments of African-Americans, but yet recognizing that there are some major issues that we still must confront,” said Maceo Crenshaw Dailey Jr., Ph.D., director of UTEP’s African-American Studies Program.
Other UTEP Black History Month events include:
Feb. 10. “The Time and What Must be Done,” with William P. Muhammad at 1:30 p.m. in the El Paso Natural Gas Conference Center
Feb. 12. “Dining with the Ancestors: When Heroes Come to Dinner,” with Eric J. Chambers at 1:30 p.m. in Union Building East, Templeton Suite 313E
Feb. 17. “Contributions in Jazz: History is Always in the Making,” with Dennis Woo, operations director for KTEP-FM (88.5), 1:30 p.m., in Union Building East, Suite 312E
Feb. 18. “When the Civil Rights Movement Stood its Ground: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement” with Akinyele Umoja, Ph.D., at 1:30 p.m. in the UTEP Library’s Blumberg Auditorium, Room 111
Feb. 23. “Out of the Darkness: The Negro Leagues and the Integration of Major League Baseball,” with Eric Enders at 1:30 p.m. in the Union Building East, Suite 213
Gospel Explosion: Time and place to be announced.
For more information about UTEP’s Black History Month celebration and events, please contact the African-American Studies Program office at 915-747-8650 or visit the program’s website here.