The UTC Department of History will celebrate Black History Month with lectures by famed scholars and an art exhibit of Yoruba culture.<\/p>\n
The department presents the Black History Month Lecture Series next week. Funded by the Diversity and Access grant program, each lecture is from 5:30-7:00 p.m. in the Raccoon Mountain Room of the University Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe chose the speakers because we wanted to put on a program that appealed to a broad range of constituencies while still under the general \u2018Black History Month\u2019 umbrella,\u201d Dr. Ralph Covino, UTC Assistant Professor of History, said. \u201cThanks to a generous Diversity and Access grant, we were able to attract some \u2018big names\u2019 who are currently working on black history topics \u2013 both internationally and nationally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. John Serrati of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, began the series February 8th on the topic of \u201cClassical History, Slavery, and the African-American experience\u201d to a mixed audience of students, faculty, and members of the local community.\u00a0 Serrati was recently honored as having produced one of the top articles of the last 60 years by the journal \u201cClassical Quarterly\u201d and came down to UTC to offer a specially revised for a Southern audience version of his keynote speech at a recent conference on ancient Sparta and its reception. He also visited with students in Covino’s\u00a0 Roman Empire class.<\/p>\n
Dr. Francoise Hamlin of Brown University will present an examination of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States through a close focus on Clarksdale, Mississippi called \u201c\u2018I have not ended the story for there is no end\u2019: Local Civil Rights Movements\u201d on February 15.<\/p>\n
Dr. Clark White of UTC will discuss local issues exploring the Garveyite Movement here in Chattanooga on February 22 in a presentation called \u201cShootout in the Valley: The Garvey Movement Incident in Chattanooga.\u201d<\/p>\n
An art exhibit of Yoruba culture also will be on display in the Lupton Library during the month of February.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese examples of Yoruba ritual art will afford visitors a glimpse into their fascinating traditions that will undoubtedly be useful as an augment to traditional classroom-based learning,\u201d Covino said. \u201cEach piece is accompanied with explanatory text and a select bibliography for those who\u2019d like to read more about the Yoruba and their art.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Pedro Campa, UTC Professor of Foreign Languages and Literature, donated the pieces from his collection of art from the Yoruba culture for a display in the library.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important that we take time out to celebrate events such as Black History Month and Women\u2019s History Month so as to concretize our university\u2019s commitment to diversity and to offer opportunities for co-curricular learning,\u201d Covino said. \u201cWe, in the department, are rather proud of the events that we are putting on this year and hope to continue to offer more in future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event was co-organized by Covino and Dr. Andrea Becksvoort of the UTC Department of History.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The UTC Department of History will celebrate Black History Month with lectures by famed scholars and an art exhibit of Yoruba culture.<\/p>\n