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OBERLIN TOWN AND GOWN CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2003
JANUARY 28, 2003--"The Souls of Black Folk: 100th Anniversary" is the theme of Black History Month 2003 at Oberlin College--part of a nationwide celebration marking the publication centennial of the book by W.E.B. DuBois, the writer, civil rights activist, scholar, and editor, and a significant intellectual in American history.
Published in 1903, his The Souls of Black Folk, considered one of the most influential and widely read texts in African American letters and history, combines some of the most enduring reflections on black identity, the meaning of emancipation, and African American culture. Far ahead of its time, the work is credited with both anticipating and inspiring much of the black consciousness and activism of the 1960s.
Oberlin College and community will celebrate the theme with a series of public talks, films--including on February 5 DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices--panels and other events. Unless otherwise noted, all are free and open to the public.
Leading off the observance at 8 p.m., Monday, February 3, is "This Nation Under God" an Oberlin College Convocation address by the distinguished preacher Gardner Calvin Taylor '40--in the College's Finney Chapel.
Highlights include a major theater and dance production of the musical The Wiz Feb. 7, 8, and 9 in the College’s Hall Auditorium; a talk by noted scholar John H. Bracey, Jr., former director of the W.E.B. DuBois Archives at the University of Massachusetts, Thursday, Feb, 6 at 8 p.m. in the College Science Center West Lecture Hall; a concert by the Oberlin College Black Musicians Guild at 8 p.m. Saturday, February 22, in the Oberlin Conservatory; and panels at 7 p.m. on The Souls of Black Folk, Feb. 10, West Lecture Hall, and on Spirituality in the Black Community Feb. 17, Afrikan Heritage House.
A special screening of the 1999 Brazilian film Orfeu will be held February 15, at 2 p.m. at Oberlin's Apollo Theater, 19 E. College St., ticket price tba. Headlined by the New York Times as "reborn in romantic Rio, Orpheus flavors samba With rap," Orfeu is a retelling of the legend of the bard Orpheus and his tragic love for the nymph Eurydice, played out against the jubilant frenzy of Rio's present-day carnival.
Town events include a free public program Sunday, February 9, at 3 p.m. at the Oberlin Public Library with Frank Dobson, speaking on the 100th anniversary of W.E.B. DuBois’s The Souls of Black Folk. Dobson is associate professor of English and director of Wright State University’s Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center. The program is co-sponsored by the library, the Oberlin Race Relations Committee, the Oberlin Heritage Center/O.H.I.O et al.
Black History Month events for Oberlin College students will also include a formal inaugural dinner, a soul session, a day trip to Detroit’s Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and a leadership retreat.
The College events are sponsored by the African American Studies Department, Afrikan Heritage House, the Multicultural Resource Center, the Edmonia Lewis Center for Women and Transgendered People, Oberlin College's Black Musicians Guild, ABUSUA, the African Students Association, Students of Caribbean Ancestry, Voices For Christ, the Mead-Swing Lectureship Committee, the Dean of Students Office, and the Office of Residential Life and Services.
The Oberlin community’s connection to the underground railroad, John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, the Amistad slave ship and rebellion, and the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue can be found on the Electronic Oberlin Group (EOG) Oberlin Through History web site.
A complete calendar of events for the month is available online.
Media Contact: Scott.Wargo
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