Events will include the following:
- Carter G. Woodson Annual Soul Food Feast, at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 4, Memorial Student Center.
- Luke Eric Lassiter, director of the MU Graduate Humanities Program, presents “The Glenwood Project, Charleston Slave Histories, and Community-University Research Partnerships, “at 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 5, Drinko Library Atrium.
- The Rev. Matthew Watts presents “Next Steps,” part of the City of Huntington lecture series, following the State of African Americans in West Virginia summit at Marshall University in November at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb., Huntington City Hall
- Thom Walker, an associate professor and the music and digital services librarian with Marshall University Libraries, will speak on blues from the Richmond, Virginia, area, at 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12 in the Drinko Library Atrium.
- A Frederick Douglass speech reenactment and birthday celebration will take place at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14, in the Don Morris Room of the Memorial Student Center. Woodson created Negro History Week in 1926 and honored the births of Abraham Lincoln and Douglass with the dates he selected. Marshall will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Douglass, the black abolitionist and journalist, with a presentation and re-enactment of an 1852 Douglass speech on “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” by Professor Robert Levine, University of Maryland, and actor Phil Darius Wallace. Local singer Dana Hart will sing “Happy Birthday,” and cake will be served.
- A presentation by Dr. Carla Hayden, the 14th librarian of Congress and the first African American and first woman appointed to this position, will take place at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21, at the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center. The Library of Congress had special significance in Dr. Woodson’s research program.
- The Mis-Education of the Negro, Woodson’s most famous book, will be revisited in a roundtable discussion by Marshall students seeking 21st-century implications. The roundtable begins at 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, at the Drinko Library Atrium. This will be presented with support from Equity Programs and MUReads.
- Andrew H. Lee of New York University will discuss “Strange Fruit: The Scottsboro Case and Its Global Impact” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, in Room 402 of Drinko Library.
- Craig Woodson, an ethnomusicologist and Carter G. Woodson relative, will present a lecture titled “Drumming and Sankofa: Our Story of Black/White Woodson Family Reconciliation” at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28, in the Don Morris Room of the Memorial Student Center.
Organizers request participants to RSVP to morrisb@marshall.edu to help with planning and to make special arrangements for anyone who needs assistance. For a complete listing and updated information, visit www.marshall.edu/woodsonlyceum or follow on Twitter @woodsonlyceum.
Also at the press conference announcing agenda on Wednesday, Sandra Reed, director of the School of Art & Design, announced winners of the Black History Month Poster Competition. Marshall student Heath Holley won first prize, and students Alyssa Armour, Robb Coleman and Hailey Hunter received merit awards.
The Carter G. Woodson Lyceum was established in 2016 and named for Woodson, known as the “Father of Black History.” It aims to help address disparities and other challenges in education, provide a dialogue for solving social problems and support free speech – while reuniting Huntington and West Virginia with Goodson’s teachings.
As one of the leading educators of the 20th century, Woodson (Dec. 19, 1875-April 3, 1950) had been a West Virginia coal miner and Huntington resident. He became the second African American student to receive a Ph.D. in history at Harvard and the first person whose parents were former slaves to earn a doctorate in history from any institution.
This year’s Black History Month event sponsors and lyceum supporters include Academic Affairs, the College of Arts and Media, the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, the School of Art and Design, the School of Music, the College of Education and Professional Development, Intercultural Affairs, the John Deaver Drinko Academy, the Maple Grove Society, Marshall University Libraries and the Simon Perry Center for Constitutional Democracy, all of Marshall University, as well as the West Virginia Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs, and the West Virginia Humanities Council.
For more information, contact Burnis R. Morris, the Carter G. Woodson Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications, by e-mail at morrisb@marshall.edu or by phone at 304-696-4635.