OBERLIN college
africana unity
and CELEBRATION
month
February 6
Harriet Tubman:
When I Crossed that
Line to Freedom
Opera and Theatrical
Performance
6:30 pm, Finney Chapel
This new, two-act operatic work by composer
Nkieru Okoye ’92 tells the story of how a
young girl born into slavery becomes Harriet
Tubman, the legendary Underground Railroad
conductor. Directed by Associate Professor
of Opera Theater Jonathon Field.
February 6
The BreakBeat
Poets: New American
Poetry in the
Age of Hip-Hop
Workshop: 4:30 pm
Performance: 8 pm
Cat in the Cream coffeehouse
A workshop and performance with Kevin Coval,
Nate Marshall, Jamila Woods, and Daniel
Kissenger, members and editors of The
BreakBeat Poets anthology of hip-hop poetry.
February 9
Jason Sokol ’99:
“America’s Long
History of
Racial Hypocrisy”
lecture
7 pm, Lord Lounge
Afrikan Heritage House
Drawing on his book All Eyes Are Upon Us:
Race and Politics from Boston to
Brooklyn, Jason Sokol explores the history
of black struggle in the North.
February 11
Soprano Latoya Lain
and pianist Casey
Robards: The Narrative
of a Slave Woman:
Overcoming Odds in
an Everyday Life
performance
6:30 pm, Stull Hall
Conservatory of music
Soprano LaToya Lain, PhD, assistant professor
of voice at Central Michigan University, and
Casey Robards, DMA, pianist and vocal coach
at Central Michigan University, present an
evening of Negro Spirituals—songs inspired by
hope, perseverance, community, and suffering.
February 14
Jeanine Donaldson ’75:
“For My People, an
AUCM Program in Song
and Spoken Word”
performance
7 pm, Lord Lounge
Afrikan Heritage House
Featuring soprano Jeanine Donaldson,
director of the YWCA of Elyria, and
accompanist Errol Browne.
February 17
Spike Lee’s
Chi-raq
film screening
7 pm, APOLLO THEATRE
Spike Lee’s newest film, set in contemporary
Chicago, takes as its inspiration Aristophanes’
Lysistrata, the fifth-century B.C. comedy in
which women organize a sex strike to stop men
from making war.
February 18
Kai M. Greene:
“The Power and Limits
of Name Changing”
lecture
7 pm, Environmental
Studies CENTER
Kai M. Greene, a writer, filmmaker, and
doctoral candidate at the University of Southern
California, examines the histories of
individual and collective name changing as
it relates to Black Power, black feminism,
and transgender subjectivity.
February 19
Yuichiro Onishi:
“Transpacific
AntiRacism”
lecture
12:15 pm, Wilder Hall
Room 101
Yuichiro Onishi, associate professor at the
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, argues that
in the context of forging Afro-Asian solidarities,
race emerged as a political category of struggle
with a distinct moral quality and vitality.
February 20
janae johnson
spoken word reading
8 pm, Cat in the Cream
coffeehouse
Slam poet, artist, educator, and activist
Janae Johnson uses her poetry to shed light on
racial inequality, homophobia, and the nuances
of love. Johnson won the 2015 Women of the
World International Poetry Slam Invitational.
February 20
Swimming in Dark
Waters: Other
Voices of the
American Experience
convocation concert
8 pm, Finney Chapel
Led by Rhiannon Giddens ’00, founding member
of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, this concert
explores the songs of resistance of the South,
the history of protest songs from Leyla McCalla’s
Haiti and Louisiana, and the experiences of
first-generation American Bhi Bhiman. The
Convocation is free, but tickets are required.
February 24
Tricia Rose:
“Hip-hop and black
culture”
lecture
7:30 pm, Dye Lecture Hall
Science Center
Tricia Rose, professor of Africana studies at
Brown University, is most known for her
groundbreaking book on the emergence of
hip-hop culture, Black Noise: Rap Music and
Black Culture in Contemporary America.
February 25
Naomi Jackson:
A Reading from the
star side of bird hill
reading
7 pm, Lord Lounge
Afrikan Heritage House
A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop,
new novelist Naomi Jackson is author of
The Star Side of Bird Hill (Penguin Press).
February 26 & 27
Complicated
Relationships:
Mary Church Terrell’s
Legacy for 21st
Century Activists
symposium and exhibition
All Day
main library, Mudd Center
This symposium celebrates a significant gift
of Mary Church Terrell’s papers to the Oberlin
College Archives. Terrell, Class of 1884, a
feminist, civil rights activist, and founding
member of the National Association of
Colored Women and the NAACP, worked across
lines of race and gender to achieve a more
just and equitable society. Keynote speaker is
Johnnetta B. Cole ’57, director of the
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.
March 2
Robin Kelley:
“Fighting Apartheid
Since 1948: Key Moments
in Palestinian
and Black Solidarity”
lecture
7 PM, Dye Lecture Hall
Science Center
Robin Kelly has explored the history of social
movements in the United States, the African Diaspora,
and Africa; black intellectuals; music; visual culture;
contemporary urban studies; historiography and
historical theory; and more. His talk explores these
communities’ common interests and challenges.
March 4 & 5
Essence Presents
Dance Diaspora dance iV
performance
8 pm, Main SPACE, Warner Center
TICKETS: $5 advance, $7 door
Dance Diaspora and Essence Dance celebrate
the spirituality, philosophy, and diversity of
African culture. Donnay Edmund will present her
senior honors show, “From Guinea to Brooklyn:
The Journey of My Happy Feet.”
March 5 & 6
danez smith:
“poetry, activism,
and politics”
Performance: 8 pm, march 5
Workshop: 2 pm, march 6
Cat in the Cream coffeehouse
Danez Smith, a queer black artist and
activist from St. Paul, Minn., will discuss and
read from his work, which includes [insert] Boy
(2014), winner of the 2014 Lambda Literary
Award for Gay Poetry and finalist for the
Norma Farber First Book Award from the
Poetry Society of America.
march (date tba)
“African
Diasporic Identities
in the Americas”
panel
7 pm, Lord Lounge
Afrikan Heritage House
Panel discussion about Afrolatinidad
and black identities in the Americas featuring
Oberlin faculty members Yveline Alexis, Baron
Pineda, and Danielle Terrazas Williams.
visit new.oberlin.edu/aucm for
further details on individual events