Black History Month

February 2013

Friday, February 1
An Evening with Vocalist Freddy Ingleton with special guest Angela Vidulich
7:00 p.m., Taylor Auditorium. Free.
During his 15 years as a member of the Philadelphia soul-singing group The Delfonics, Freddy Ingleton performed in shows that also featured Al Greene, the Four Tops and the Temptations. He is now a member of Blue Magic, an American soul group from Philadelphia, as well as a solo performer. Freddy has written and released his single On the Case (produced by William Blanchard, 2012) and Butterfly (produced by Bert Price, 2011). A scholarship has been established in his name through the SCCC Foundation. Angela Vidulich, a voice major in the SCCC School of Music, will open the show, performing pieces from her classical repertoire. She is a member of the Vocal Chamber Ensemble, Chorus and performs on the Worship Team at Northstar Church in Clifton Park, N.Y.

Monday, February 4
Black History Month Opening Celebration
2:30 p.m., Stockade Building, Room 101. Free.
The Core Ensemble presents Of Ebony Embers – Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance, a music theatre work celebrating three great African American poets - Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay, as seen through the eyes of renowned painter and muralist Aaron Douglas. The Core Ensemble is a nationally-acclaimed trio of cello, piano and percussion.

Tuesday, February 5
Cassandra Carter presents Homage to My Hips: The Obesity Crisis in African American Communities
11:00 a.m., Stockade Building, Room 101. Free.
Despite efforts by the Department of Health and Center for Disease Control to combat obesity, four out of five black women are overweight. This presentation looks at strategies and theories that frame the way African Americans view diet and exercise and how that lends itself to obesity. It will also focus on how these problems are rooted in historical legacies of slavery. Cassandra Carter is a Special Appointment in the Office of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness.

Thursday, February 7
Brandie Dingman presents The Knapp Family: Historic Cherry Hill and Rewriting Black History in 19th Century America – The Secret Life of Black Aristocrats in Upstate New York
12:30 p.m., Stockade Building, Room 101. Free.
In the 19th century, social scholars and historians commonly depicted blacks in America as only slaves or servants, never with shared cultural practices, intellect and resources of whites in America. This talk utilizes a socio-historical lens, material culture and objects from the Historic Cherry Hill Museum in Albany, N.Y., to facilitate a greater understanding of the black diaspora and erased versions of black cultural aristocracy in Upstate N.Y. Brandie Dingman is the Coordinator of Institutional Research for the Office of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness. 

Friday, February 8
DeShawn McGarrity presents You Got Me Going in Circles
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013. Same time, same place.
11:30 a.m., Lally Mohawk Room. Free.
This presentation will focus on the integration of old school and rap music into current music. DeShawn McGarrity is Quad Coordinator of Residential Life at the University at Albany.

 

Monday, February 11
Dr. David Stovall presents Social Justice in Education: Struggle, Process and Victory in Challenging Times
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Lally Mohawk Room. Free.
Professor Stovall’s presentation includes a discussion of the current moment in urban education and the residual effects it is having on low-income communities of color. Included in the presentation are perspectives and strategies used by communities to interrupt commonly shared notions of deficit regarding urban communities. A light fare will be served from 11:30 a.m. -1:00 p.m. Please RSVP to Sandy Troiano in the SCCC Human Resources Office, at 518-381-1218. Reservations will be made on a first-come, first-served basis. Dr. David Stovall is Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies and African-American Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

 

Tuesday, February 12
Marsha Mortimore presents The Early African-American Presence in the City of Schenectady
11:30 a.m., Lally Mohawk Room. Free.
This program will review the lives of Richard P.G. Wright, Theodore Sedgwick Wright, Bartlett Jackson and the historical 1844 Convention. Marsha Mortimore is a Job Training Partnership Specialist with the New York State Department of Labor, Division of Employment and Workforce Solutions. She is also Vice President of Schenectady Silhouettes, a non-profit organization which awards scholarships to first-year and second-year college students. The group also makes donations to programs that serve the inner-city, such as Carver Community Center and the Hamilton Hill Arts Center.

 

Wednesday, February 13
African American Cultural Festival
11:00 a.m., Student Activity Forum. Free.
African drumming performance by Zorkie Nelson of the Hamilton Hill Cultural Arts Center and cultural cuisine will be catered by area restaurants. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to come dressed in their finest cultural attire. 

Thursday, February 14
Cassandra Carter presents Waka Waka Africa
11:00 a.m., Student Activity Forum. Free.
Dance as protest, this “workshop in motion” will focus on how dance was used by the slaves in the United States as a sign of protest. Although they were physically bound, their spirits were free. After the presentation, participants will be taught a dance “Waka Waka Africa” and then have the opportunity to perform it. Cassandra Carter is a Special Appointment in the Office of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness.

Friday, February 15-Sunday, February 17
Soul Rebel Performance Troupe, Inc. (SRPT) performs Camp Logan, directed and produced by Jean-Remy Monnay
Friday, February 15, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, February 16, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, February 17, 3 p.m.,
Taylor Auditorium. Free.

A theatrical drama based on the 1917 court martials and executions of 19 black soldiers of the 24th Infantry and written by Celeste Bedford Walker, Camp Logan received the NAACP Award for best play in 1994. SRPT highlights and promotes performances and theatrical pieces by artists of color in the Capital Region.
Jean-Remy Monnay, Founder and President of SRPT, grew up in Haiti and has been acting since the age of 8.

 

Monday, February 18
Wes Holloway presents
Texas: Emancipation Proclamation
12:30 p.m., Lally Mohawk Room. Free.
Early Texas was part of the Mexican Territories and due to Mexico’s non-support of slavery, Texas faced many challenges in bringing slaves into the Territory. When the Mexican War concluded in 1821, Texas was included in the New Nation and Stephen F. Austin allowed slaveholders the purchase 50 acres of land for every slave they brought into the Texas. In 1861, Texas seceded from the United States and joined the Confederated States of America during the Civil War. Texas became a safe harbor for slaveholders from Arkansas and Louisiana to send their slaves to avoid having them emancipated. Slaves did not become aware of President Lincoln’s 1863 emancipation of them until June 19, 1865. The question is why? Wes Holloway is Vice President of Diversity for Golub Corporation.

Tuesday, February 19
Amistad - Part I
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., Stockade Building, Room 101. Free.
Open to SCCC students, faculty and staff only.
Amistad is a 1997 historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg based on the true story of an uprising in 1839 by newly captured African slaves that took place aboard the ship La Amistad off the coast of Cuba. It recounts the subsequent voyage to the Northeastern United States and the legal battle that followed their capture by a United States revenue cutter.

Johanna Ortner presents Black Women’s Anti-Slavery Activism in the Antebellum Period
2:25 p.m., Stockade Building, Room 101. Free.
In this talk, Johanna Ortner will discuss black women’s, both free and enslaved, struggle against slavery during the first half of the 19th century. She will particularly focus on the ways in which these two groups of women fought against the enslavement of African Americans in the South and how their involvement in the Abolitionist Movement helped strengthen the cause of antislavery leading up to the Civil War. Johanna Ortner is a Ph.D. candidate in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

 

Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Brandie Dingman presents Critical Mass or Critical Mess: Diversity and Inclusion in Education in 21st Century America
12:30 p.m., Stockade Building, Room 101. Free.
This presentation will highlight contemporary inequality in education based on race, gender and social class in the 21st century. Brandie Dingman is the Coordinator of Institutional Research for the Office of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness. 

 

 

Thursday, February 21, 2013
Amistad - Part II
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., Lally Mohawk Room. Free.
Open to SCCC students, faculty and staff only.

Rev. Leonard Comithier presents The Impact of Negro Hymns, Spirituals, and Gospel Music in the Lives of African Americans and the Black Church
6:00-8:00 p.m., Taylor Auditorium. Free.
Rev. Leonard Comithier will lead a discussion about the impact of Negro Hymns, Spirituals, and Gospel Music, on the lives of African Americans and the Black Church. The discussion will be followed by performances by Capital District choirs who will render selections of Negro Spirituals, Hymns and contemporary Christian Gospel Music. Rev. Leonard Comithier is the Pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church in Albany, N.Y.

Tuesday, February 26
DeShawn McGarrity presents You Got Me Going in Circles
11:30 a.m., Lally Mohawk Room. Free. (Rescheduled from Friday, February 8.) This presentation will focus on the integration of old school and rap music into current music. DeShawn McGarrity is Quad Coordinator of Residential Life at the University at Albany.

Wednesday, February 27
Soul Food Luncheon
11:30 a.m., Van Curler Room - Cost $18
The School of Hotel, Culinary Arts and Tourism hosts this special luncheon with mouth-watering dishes including oven roasted “fried” chicken, deep fried catfish, shrimp and grits, macaroni and cheese, collard greens and peach cobbler. During the luncheon, Dr. Deidre Hill Butler, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Africana Studies at Union College, will present President Obama’s Second Term: Has Racism Died? For tickets, please contact Sandy Troiano in the SCCC Human Resources Office, at 518-381-1218 by February 4, 2013.

Also, look for:
African American Poetry Flash - Learning Center/Writing Lab – Elston Hall, Room 523 and displays in the Begley Library.

Events are sponsored by: Price Chopper Supermarkets and SCCC - Student Government Association, Community and Cultural Events Committee, Human Resources/Affirmative Action Office, Executive Division, Administration Division, Academic Affairs Division, Student Affairs Division and SCCC Foundation.
For more information, please contact Carolyn Pinn, SCCC Coordinator of Personnel Services/AAO, 518-381-1218.