MTSU Black History Month activities still on tap

An activist actor’s visit heads the list of events on tap for “A Century of Black Life, History and Culture,” MTSU’s 2015 celebration of Black History Month.

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Hill Harper, best known for his work on the television series “CSI: NY” and “Covert Affairs,” will be the featured speaker at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11, in the second floor ballroom of the Student Union.

Harper, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a law degree from Harvard University, also is the founder of the Manifest Your Destiny Foundation.

The nonprofit organization works to empower underserved youth through mentorship, educational and motivational programs, according to its website.

Hill Harper

“He has been visiting campuses and talking about helping African-American males to progress through the college experience,” said Jonell Hinsey, director of MTSU’s Intercultural and Diversity Center and chair of the Black History Month Committee.

The Unity Luncheon, a Black History Month tradition, will honor community leaders who are 60 years of age or older and have lived in the Middle Tennessee area for 25 years or more.

Bishop Joseph Walker III, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Nashville, will be the featured speaker. The luncheon is slated for 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, in the second floor ballroom of the Student Union.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students and can be purchased online by visiting www.mtsu.edu/aahm/unity-awards.php and clicking on the “Unity Luncheon” tab.

Journalists and a community leader who covered the shooting death of a black youth by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and its violent aftermath will discuss the challenges they faced at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, in Tucker Theatre.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer/videographer David Carson, St. Louis alderman and social media reporter Antonio French and USA Today staff reporter Yamiche Alcindor will discuss “From the Front Lines of Ferguson: Covering the New Civil Rights Movement.”

Ferguson insiders David Carson, left, Antonio French and Yamiche Alcindor will discuss “From the Front Lines of Ferguson: Covering the New Civil Rights Movement" at MTSU Feb. 10.

David Carson, left, Antonio French and Yamiche Alcindor will discuss “From the Front Lines of Ferguson: Covering the New Civil Rights Movement” at MTSU Feb. 10.

Other highlights include:

“Harlem Street Portraits,” an exhibition of photographs by Harvey Stein at the Baldwin Photographic Gallery through Feb. 26 on the second floor of the John Bragg Mass Communication Building.
A free public lecture by photographer Stein, set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, in Room 103 of the Bragg Mass Comm Building.
“Protective Custody,” an HIV/AIDS information table staffed by Nashville-based Project UNO, located in the first-floor lobby of the Student Union 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6 — National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
“The ‘Hard Driving’ of NASCAR’s Wendell Scott: The Politics of African-American Survivability and Counter-Mobility,” set for 3 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, in Room N116 of the Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building.
“Dear White People,” a Sundance Film Festival award-winning satirical film about “being a black face in a white place,” to be screened at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Feb. 12, 13 and 14 in the Student Union’s second-floor theater.
Jeffery Reid
“A Raisin in the Sun,” Lorraine Hansberry’s award-winning play, to be performed at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays Feb. 13-22 at the Murfreesboro Center of the Arts, 110 W. College St., Murfreesboro. Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 for seniors, students and military personnel and $11 for children with a $2 discount per ticket for groups of 10 or more. Tickets are available at www.boroarts.org, the box office or by calling 615-904-2787.
“What Does It Mean to be Black in America?”, a group discussion in the “Let’s Be Honest” series, to be held 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17, in Room 219 of Monohan Hall.
“House of Privilege,” an interactive activity enabling participants to experience different types of societal privilege, with tours beginning at the top of each hour from 1 to 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20, in the Tom Jackson Building next to Kirksey Old Main.
“From the Front Lines of Media: MTSU Alumnus Jeffery Reid on Media Diversity,” planned for 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, in Room 160 inside the College of Education Building.
The John Pleas Faculty Recognition Award Ceremony, which honors a leading African-American MTSU faculty member each year, scheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, in the Jackson Building.
“Soul Beats,” an African-American culture festival featuring music, art and stepping, planned for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, at Patterson Park Community Center, located at 521 Mercury Blvd. in Murfreesboro.