Africana Studies kicks off 40th anniversary celebration by remembering a legacy of activism
| WHAT: | A keynote address and panel discussion on the topic of “Civil Rights in the Age of Obama.” The event is free and open to the general public. | |
| WHO: |  Participants on the panel include: Theodore Carrington, director of the NAACP Environmental Justice Program; James Harris, state president of the New Jersey chapter of the NAACP; Sharon Robinson Briggs, mayor of Plainfield and NAACP activist; and Nkechinyere Ugoji, past secretary of the Rutgers student chapter of the NAACP. |
|
| WHEN: | Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. | |
| WHERE: | Rutgers Student Center, 126 College Avenue, New Brunswick | |
| BACKGROUND: | The political climate 40 years ago was conducive to establishing an Africana Studies program. “The wounds from Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination were still raw. African-American college students had embraced the black power movement and were frustrated with their universities,” said Gayle Tate, chair of the Africana Studies department. “Across the nation, students were demanding, protesting and requiring their universities to address inequalities on campus. One of the many achievements of the civil rights movement was the establishment of black studies programs throughout the nation.”
At Rutgers, the Africana Studies program is focused on the transmigration of the African throughout the world. The program examines the internationalism of the African experience from many different disciplines – history, literature, anthropology and more. |
Media Contact: Nicole Pride
732-932-7084, ext. 610
E-mail: npride@ur.rutgers.edu