January 18, 1999		Oberlin College Celebrates Black History Month Media Contact: Betty Gabrielli
			OBERLIN, OHIO--Oberlin College will highlight its 1999 Black History Month observance with a dance concert Feb. 4 featuring the music of Duke Ellington and an address by noted theologian and activist Dr. Vincent Harding at the Feb. 13 annual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration. The Black History Month program, which will continue into early March, also will include a talk by best-selling author and Oberlin alumnus James McBride OC 1979 at 1 P.M. Friday, Feb. 12 under the auspices of the Oberlin Public Library and the Oberlin Historical Improvement Organization. Acclaimed Black writer and activist Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) will speak at 8 P.M. Thursday, Feb. 25 in Finney Chapel. Among other events are screenings of recent films featuring leading African-American actors; student forums and gatherings at Oberlin's Afrikan Heritage House, 126 Forest St.; and the third annual African Market. For more information, call Adenike Sharpley at 440/775 8715. All events are free and open to the public. McBride, an Oberlin alumnus and author of The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother (Riverhead Books: New York 1996), will give a talk titled "The Bond Between African Americans and Jews" and hold a book-signing. The Oberlin Public Library is located at 65 S. Main St. Cosponsored by the library and the Oberlin Historical Improvement Organization, the talk is funded in part by a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Seating is limited. Oberlin College tap and modern dancers will join the Oberlin Jazz Septet in "A Duke Ellington Centennial Celebration" at 8 P.M., Thursday, Feb. 4 at 8 P.M. in Finney Chapel, at the corner of West Lorain and North Professor streets. The performance is part of Everything Ellington, a Duke Ellington centenary celebration coordinated by Tri-C JazzFest, made possible in part by a grant from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Arts Partners Program which is administered by the Association for Performing Arts Presenters. The Oberlin program will feature student dancers Rashida Bumbray and over Abigail Nartey as well as vocals by Dominique Atchison, Tai Collins and Chantal Ross. Performing with them will be an Oberlin jazz ensemble led by Kevin Louis, trumpet. A member of The Oberlin Jazz Septet which took top honors at the Ford Montreux Jazz Festival last fall, Louis also was one of three seniors honored with musicianship awards at the prestigious competition. The Martin Luther King, Jr. event will feature a keynote address by Dr. Vincent Harding, professor of religion and social transformation at the Iliff School of Theology, University of Denver, at 7 P.M. Sat., Feb. 13 in Warner Concert Hall, located in the Oberlin Conservatory near the corner of West College and South Professor Streets. The Rev. William Padavick, pastor of Oberlin Sacred Heart Church, will give the invocation, and Alyson Cambridge OC 2001 will present the welcome. The program also will include performances by the Oberlin College Choir conducted by Hugh Ferguson Floyd and the Lorain-based Messengers of God youth group led by Mazzie Garret. A reception will be held after the program. Dr. Harding was director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Center and senior academic advisor to the award-winning PBS series "Eyes on the Prize." He is currently co-chairperson of the Gandhi-Hamer-King Center for the Study of Religion and Democratic Renewal. A prolific author and lecturer, his most recent book is Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero (Orbis 1996). Amiri Baraka, poet, writer, political activist, teacher, and one of the nation's most influential and prolific artists, was a driving force during the Black Arts movement in the 1960s. He also founded the Black Arts Repertory Theater/School in Harlem -- a model that inspired black theaters throughout the United States. His most recent books include Why's/Wise, an anthology of poetry, and Jesse Jackson and Black People, a book about the African American struggle for democracy and self-determination.