African-American History Month celebrated in the arts

Speaker and dance troupe scheduled

Beverly Guy-Sheftall will visit Oberlin today in conjunction with African-American History month to present a lecture entitled "Womenism, Feminism, and Black Women in Literature: Past, Present and Future.

Guy-Sheftall is a Professor of English and Women's Studies at Spelman College. She is the director of the women's research and resource center there.

Deloris Nevels, Administrative Assitant of African-American Studies, said the visit was doubly important because March is Women's History month and Guy-Sheftall's visit complemented both events. She said the Women's Studies department should be interested in the talk because Guy-Sheftall is affiliated with a unique women's research center at Spellman.

Guy-Sheftall was the founding co-editor of Sage a scholarly journal on Black Women. She also co-edited Sturdy Black Bridges which documents visions of black women in literature.

Her visit is one in a series of lectures presented by the African-American Studies department. The theme of the lecture series is "Looking for History in issues of African-American Women: Past, Present, and Future."

The talk is open to the public and is sponsored by the African-American studies department, Abusua, the black student union and the President's office.

Her lecture is one of a number of events scheduled for this weekend in recognance of African-American History month. A dance troupe from Washington, DC will visit Saturday, and Abusua is sponsoring the second annual Image Awards Sunday. The Image Awards recognize different African Americans in the Oberlin community for various reasons.

The visiting dance troupe is a rhythm tap group from Washington, DC. According to Rashida Bumbray, a first-year, a dance or performance group is brought in annually to celebrate the month. This year she recommended Dance Diaspora, the troupe she danced in for five years before coming to Oberlin. The performance will contain part of the troupe's repertoire which is primarily real tap as opposed to show tap. In show tap, Bombra said, the emphasis is on appearance. In real tap, or Hoofin', the emphasis is on rhythm.

Abusua is finishing off the weekend with the Image Awards. They were started last year by students in order to bring attention and recognition to members of the African-American community.