Black History Month 2005

February 11, 2005

To the Rutgers Community:

This month marks the seventy-ninth year since pioneering scholar Carter G. Woodson launched what has become an annual occasion for national reflection upon the contributions of Africans and African-Americans to world history and culture. For Woodson, intellectual inquiry represented the active power of education to transform a people and a nation. It is highly appropriate, therefore, that as members of a great university we set aside this time to celebrate and remember.

To commemorate Black History Month 2005, the Rutgers University community has united once again to assemble a remarkable month-long festival of lectures, exhibits, symposia, concerts, banquets, and film series all highlighting the global reach of the black experience.

Among these activities are several events that recall the original purpose of this month: historical research into the contributions of African Americans. In New Brunswick, Jeff Johnson, former national director for the youth and college division of the NAACP, will discuss the founding influences that shaped this key civil rights organization. He will be the keynote speaker at the NAACP's gala banquet celebrating 96 years of activism on February 17.

The Rutgers-Newark campus will host the twenty-fifth annual Marion Thompson Wright lecture series, honoring the first black female professional historian. For this year's series, Feb. 18-19, several pre-eminent scholars will examine the evolution of the study of black history over the past quarter-century.

Rutgers-Camden will feature a month-long exhibit of the work of artist Whitfield Lovell, entitled Whispers from the Walls. This highly emotive exhibit addresses how African Americans lived in the South under the Jim Crow laws that segregated our nation. The exhibit will be on view through March 12.

These are just a few of the many activities that will enrich our university this month. I want to express my appreciation to the many students, staff, and faculty members whose innovative thinking and hard work have made our Black History Month 2005 celebration a success.

Richard L. McCormick
President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey