In addition to the appearance of black youth activist Charlene Carruthers (see separate article), there are several other events slated for Black History Month.
On Wednesday, Feb 10, there will be an African Drumming Showcase featuring musicians from the African American Cultural Center of Buffalo at 7:30 p.m. in Fenton Hall Room 105. It is a free event but tickets are required and available at the Fredonia Ticket Office in the Williams Center.
On Monday, Feb 15, a “Know Your Rights” Panel is slated from 7 to 9 p.m. in Williams Center Room S204ABC. Co-sponsored by the Black Student Union and the Criminal Justice Club, the training workshop will include a panel that will focus on informing students of community issues and legal rights. The panel will be made up of nine representatives and led by Political Science Professor Jonathan Chausovsky and Patrick Johnson, advisor to the Criminal Justice Club and an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Sociocultural and Justice Sciences. They will be accompanied by two students from the Criminal Justice Club, four members from the New York Civil Liberties Union and guest speaker Debra Perry, training director for the Buffalo Police Department.
The Fredonia Concert Band will present African American composer William Grant Still's "From the Delta," a beautiful three-movement work composed in 1945, during its concert on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. in King Concert Hall, with Raymond Stewart as conductor. Composer, arranger and conductor Still is often referred to as “the Dean” of African American composers. His principal teachers were George Chadwick and Edgard Varese, but he was influenced by Duke Ellington as well. In 1931 he became the first African American to have a major orchestra play one of his compositions, Afro-American Symphony. He was also the first African American to conduct a leading American orchestra, the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra. Many of his works reflect his concerns about the position of African Americans in society. Still described From the Delta as “a first attempt to express in music the romance of the Delta country in my native state of Mississippi.” Although grounded in a folk style, all three movements of this suite are original. Other repertoire to be performed during the concert include works by Giuseppe Verdi, Karel Husa, Percy Grainger and Frank Zappa.
On Sunday, Feb 28, "An Evening with the Stars" closing ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. in the Williams Center Multipurpose Room. The event is free but tickets are required and available in the Fredonia Ticket Office.
