Black History Month Events at Knox College

Events celebrating Black History Month will be presented at Knox College during February by the student organization ABLE, the Black Studies Program, Association for Black Culture Centers and the Support Group for African-American Affairs.

The Support Group for African-American Affairs will hold its 12th annual scholarship dinner at 6 p.m., Saturday, February 19, in the Lincoln Room, Seymour Union. The featured speaker is Gail Ferguson, assistant professor of psychology at Knox. Members of the Knox Jazz Combo will perform and Knox student Monica Prince will read poetry. Tickets are $20, a portion of which goes to support a student scholarship fund. Tickets must be purchased in advance from Terry Duffy at 309-341-7862. Co-sponsors are the Knox College Black Studies Program and the Association for Black Culture Centers, headquartered at Knox College.

The performing group Core Ensemble will present its musical production "Of Ebony Embers: Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance," at 7 p.m., Sunday, February 27, in Kresge Hall, Ford Center for the Fine Arts. The performance features actor Chris White  (photo, above) and musicians celebrating the works of African-American poets including Langston Hughes, muralist Aaron Douglas and jazz greats such as Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk.

The performance is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by ABLE, Allied Blacks for Liberty and Equality, the ABLE Center for Black Culture at Knox College, Dean of Students and Dean of the College, Cultural Events Committee, Finley Fund and the Black Studies Program.

"Of Ebony Embers" was written by Akin Babatunde, an actor, director, and writer whose theatrical career spans Broadway, film and television. He is founder and artistic director of Vivid Theater Ensemble of Dallas, the first African-American to direct a production for the Dallas Shakespeare Festival. His other works include "Before the Second Set: A Visit with Satchmo," "Blind Lemon Blues" and "Shakespeare: Midnight Echoes," which is about black performers of Shakespeare from slavery to the present.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 45 states and 48 countries. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.