This February, UTC will celebrate Black History Month with a variety of events including a movie showing, poetry night, and student play.
February 10 L.H. Mason Agape Café 8 p.m. Multicultural Center – Agape Café is a night of music, food and fun hosted by the Littleton H. Mason Singers that is free and open to the public. There will be live entertainment as well as an open mic session for those impressed to showcase their musical talents.
February 11 Movie Monday Freedom Riders 3 p.m. Multicultural Center – Freedom Riders is the powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism.
From award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Wounded Knee, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, The Murder of Emmett Till) Freedom Riders features testimony from a fascinating cast of central characters: the Riders themselves, state and federal government officials, and journalists who witnessed the Rides firsthand. The two-hour documentary is based on Raymond Arsenault’s book Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice.
February 12 Soul Poetry Night Featuring J Whaley 8 p.m. Multicultural Center – Every first Thursday of the month during the spring semester, the Multicultural Center hosts a Live Music and Poetry Night event featuring a different musical genre, while providing an opportunity for students to recite poems. This month, in celebration of Black History month and Valentine’s Day, the event’s theme is Soul and Poetry. Students are invited to come the Soul Poetry night with poems to recite, and wearing something red in celebration of Valentine’s Day.
The featured artist for this event is J Whaley, an up and coming Soul and R&B artist based in Nashville, TN. J Whaley has sang with a number of artists and performed in several cities across the southern region. J’s first CD entitled “The Service Station” was released in April 2009 and he is currently producing his second CD. He has also been nominated for Nashville Independent Music Award (NIMA) Best Male R&B Artist of the Year 2011/2012, Best Male R&B Performer 2012 and Hip Hop in the Ville’s Best Male R&B Artist of the Year 2011.
February 13 & 14 Sankofa: African American Museum on Wheels 12 p.m. Tennessee Room – Ms. Angela W. Jennings is the curator of her own museum entitled Sankofa: African American Museum on Wheels. The Sankofa African-American Museum on Wheels provides a detailed display of artifacts commencing with the Middle Passage (slavery) to the era of King Cotton, to the days of Emancipation. It also includes stories of Ida B. Wells, other famous African Americans, The Negro Baseball League, the Tuskegee Airman, Dr. King, and our 44th president. Additionally, her exhibit informs her audiences of the significant contribution to society offered by African Americans evident in the plethora of their inventions. These art collectibles and memorabilia are open to all and classes are welcome.
February 13 L.H. Mason Sunday’s Best 7:30 p.m. UC Auditorium – Sunday’s Best is an annual gospel music competition hosted by the Littleton H. Mason Singers. Students have auditioned to be contestants, and they will be performing in two rounds of competition. There will also be musical guests. Sunday’s Best promises to be a very entertaining event. All are invited to come out and support the contestants and enjoy the musical talent that UTC has to offer.
February 16 L.H. Mason Reunion Concert 6 p.m. UC Auditorium – The Littleton H. Mason Singers will be hosting their annual Spring Reunion Concert. Former L.H. Mason singers will also be participating in this event alongside current members of the choir. The Reunion Concert is always an energetic and entertaining event. Don’t miss it!
February 18 Movie Monday Fish and Spaghetti Night 8 p.m. Multicultural Center Movie TBA (vote for your favorite movie on Facebook: Multicultural Center at UTC) – Voting has begun for the movie that will be shown at Movie Monday with Fish and Spaghetti. The movie options are: Sparkle, The Freedom Writers, The Long Walk Home, The Great Debaters, and Crooklyn. Movie trailers have been posted on the Multicultural Center’s Facebook page, and students are asked to “like” the movie that they would like to see. Voting closes on Tuesday, February 12th at noon.
February 19 History Club Meeting at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center 11 a.m. Club will meet to view and discuss a Tennessee State Museum traveling exhibit entitled “We Shall Not be Moved – The 50th Anniversary of Tennessee’s Civil Rights Sit-ins” (http://www.bessiesmithcc.org/archives/571). Chattanooga sit-in participant and UTC instructor Mr. Booker T. Scruggs will be present to answer questions from attendees. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. This event will last between 60-90 minutes.
February 21 Skate Party 9:30 p.m. Hamilton Place Skate (Student/Faculty/Staff only must present ID). The Skate Party is a fun event that is open to the general student body. Bus transportation will be provided from Lansing Court at 9:00 p.m. and student ID cards are required to board the bus and enter the skating rink. A sign-up sheet is available in the Multicultural Center for all those interested in participating.
February 25 Movie Monday Black/White & Brown: Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka 3pm Multicultural Center (Discussion to follow) – In the documentary BLACK/WHITE & BROWN: Brown versus the Board of Education of Topeka, the story, events and circumstances of this momentous decision are told by many of the individuals associated with this case, including Cheryl Brown Henderson (plaintiff Oliver Brown’s youngest daughter, former director of the Brown Foundation), Linda Brown Thompson (Oliver Brown’s daughter whose admission denial to an all-white elementary school helped form the basis of the case), Roger Wilkins (Co-Chair, NAACP Legal Defense Fund), Hon. Robert Carter (Federal District Court Judge, former attorney with the Legal Defense Fund at the time of the Brown case), Leola Montgomery (Oliver Brown’s widow), and Maurita Davis (daughter of McKinley Burnett, former president of the Topeka branch of the NAACP).
Following the viewing of this film, there will be an open discussion of relevant ideas and opinions revolving around the main themes emanating from the film.
Tuesday, February 26 Walking Tour of Black History Around Chattanooga Join the History Club as Dr. Clark White – who teaches UTC courses on the History of the Blues, and African Americans in American Popular Culture – will lead a walking tour of the African-American History surrounding UTC. The tour will begin at 3:00 on the university’s front lawn near Patton Chapel, and will end around 4:30 at the corner of MLK and Palmetto Street.
February 28 Black History Month Play “Our Story: Diaspora” 8 p.m. UC Auditorium – “Our Story: Diaspora” is a dynamic original stage play created by the students for the students. Diaspora means “we left” and this play is a thought provoking expression of African civilizations around the world. On Thursday February 28th, the UC Auditorium doors open at 8:00pm so come out, walk the red carpet, and support your classmates, students and friends.
