Campus calendar filled with Black History Month events

African American achievements and issues will be the focus in February during a series of events at Sacramento State coinciding with the nation’s celebration of Black History Month.

Speakers and performers visiting the University include spoken word and slam poetry master Saul Williams; producer and screenwriter Bobby Moresco, who’s responsible for Crash, the controversial feature film on the complexities of racial conflict in the United States; and National Book Award-winning author Jonathan Kozol.

Poet Saul Williams

Activities begin with an afternoon opening reception set for noon to 2 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 1 in the University Union Forest Suite featuring talks by Sacramento State professors Forrest Davis and Paula Shelby. An evening reception continuing the opening events, “Standing on the Shoulder of Greatness,” starts at 7 p.m., Feb. 1 in the University Union Redwood Room and features Brother Kali Williams with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, poet Rodzilla and dancer Melinda McClain.

Poet Saul Williams presents his free performance “The Dead Emcee Scrolls” the following evening at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 2 in the University Union Ballroom. A monthlong series of free film presentations with an African American theme, “Black Film Night,” opens with a screening of documentaries on Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party and rap artist Tupac Shakur at 7 p.m., Feb. 2 in the University Union Hinde Auditorium. More than a dozen other films will be presented during the series.

Crash producer and screenwriter Bobby Moresco’s free talk, “Society Through My Lens,” at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 13 in the University Union Ballroom follows noon and 5 p.m. free screenings of the film earlier the same day in the Ballroom.

And children's rights champion, education reformer, and National Book Award winner Jonathan Kozol will present his lecture “Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America” at 8 p.m., Feb. 23 in the University Union Ballroom. Tickets are $10 general.

Many more talks, performances and presentations are set for the month. A complete schedule of events is available at www.csus.edu/events.

For more information contact event organizers: Cooper-Woodson College Enhancement Program at 278-5363; Africans for Re-education Innovation Consciousness and Achievement at blacstar4@yahoo.com; and the Multi-Cultural Center at 278-6101. Tickets are available from the Sacramento State Ticket Office at 278-4323 or Tickets.com.