LHU looks at black history
Chris Hoskavich Perspectives Editor
Issue date: 2/26/09 Section: News
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The event, titled "2009 Black History Showcase, African Art, Music, and Literature: Exploring the Journey from Black Faces to Black Entertainment," was sponsored by the Office of Human Culture and Diversity.
Ruby Graves, an event coordinator for the office, organized the show.
"I just thought it would be something nice, an opportunity for everyone to come together collectively as a university community and celebrate Black History Month," she said.
In preparing for the event, Graves enlisted support from a number of sources.
"I opened it up to a lot of people; I got different clubs and organizations and individual people to be a part of it," she said.
The show was designed to focus on four aspects of African American culture: music, dance, literature and the performing arts.
The event opened with a slideshow depicting black contributions to dance at different times as James Brown played in the background.
The focus of the show then shifted to literature.
Charles Banks read an excerpt from "As I Grow Up" by Langston Hughes, followed by Roderick Crum reading from a Malcolm X speech.
These readings lead into the next slideshow, which featured such writers as Maya Angelou, Booker T. Washington and Alice Walker.
After the slideshow, Shalia DeShields and Demetreus Addison read original poems.
Jhante' Belt, Paulette Davidson and Carlicia Lomax began the music portion of the show by singing "Lift Every Voice," which was followed by a slideshow of black musicians including Billie Holiday, Muddy Waters, Tina Turner and Ray Charles.
Charles Banks capped off the music section by playing a rendition of KC and JoJo's "All My Life" on the piano.
Next was a slideshow focusing on black contributions to the performing arts that included Danny Glover, Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor.
After the slideshow, Paulette Davidson and Carlicia Lomax performed a dance routine.
Graves said that the theme of the show was evolution.
"I just want [students] to appreciate the progress that's been made," she said.
She also hopes this will not be the last event of its kind.
"I hope that it could be a tradition that keeps going," she said.
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