The University of Illinois Springfield will observe Black History Month in February with events designed to educate and raise awareness.
“We have a wonderful array of authors and student events that we’re compiling,” said Jeannie Capranica, program manager for the UIS Diversity Center.
Among the on-campus events open to the public:
* Feb. 2: 7 p.m., Brookens Auditorium in the lower level of Brookens Library. Corey Walker, associate professor in the department of Africana studies at Brown University, will discuss his book “A Noble Fight: African American Freemasonry and the Struggle for Democracy in America.”
* Feb. 3: 6 p.m., Brookens Auditorium. Screening and discussion of the documentary “Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin,” by moderators Angela Winand, assistant professor of African-American Studies, and Michael Murphy, assistant professor of Women and Gender Studies at UIS.
Rustin was one of the first freedom riders and an adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. and A. Philip Randolph, organizer of the march on Washington.
* Feb. 9: 6 p.m., Brookens Auditorium. Carlotta Walls, the youngest of the Little Rock Nine to integrate Central High School, will discuss her book, “A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice of Little Rock Central High School.”
* Feb. 9-10: 4 to 7 p.m. Feb. 9 and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 10, Public Affairs Center. Tunnel of Oppression.
Tunnel of Oppression is a student-organized campus-diversity initiative that is meant to demonstrate intolerance to those who have rarely experienced it. The experience began at Western Illinois University and has spread to many other college campuses.
* Feb. 10: 7 p.m., Public Affairs Center, Rooms C/D. “Be the Change You Want to Be.” Diversity educator Jessica Pettitt will take participants on a journey weaving together politics, theory, current events and storytelling with humor.
* Feb. 23: 7 p.m., Public Affairs Center Rooms C/D. Retired U.S. Marshal Robert Moore will sign copies of his book, “The President's Men — The Untold Story, Black U.S. Marshals,” and discuss the topic.
For more information, contact Clarice Ford, executive director of the UIS Diversity Center, at 206-6333 or e-mail cford21@uis.edu.
