Nation of Immigrants?

When people claim that America is a nation of immigrants, what do they mean? At 7:00 PM on Friday, March 6, 2009, artists of color and indigenous poets from Minnesota respond. This free event in room 120 of the University of Minnesota's Andersen Library will feature short performances by Marcie Rendon, Juliana Hu Pegues, Titiana Ormaza, Ibe Kaba, Preeti Kaur, Lorena Duarte, Tish Jones, Diego Vazquez, and Charlotte Albrecht, and include a special presentation by the Immigrant Freedom Network.

State of the Black Union

The February 28, 2009 "State of the Black Union" will re-air on C-SPAN2 Friday, March 6, 2009, 7:00 PM (Central Time). The theme of this year's event is "Making America As Good As Its Promise."

spoken word at Bryant Lake Bowl

At 7:00 PM on Friday, February 28, The Poetic Assassins will appear at the Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis. The Poetic Assassins are spoken word artists/socal justice activists.

40th Anniversary videos

Two videos are now available on our 40th Anniversary webpage: the November 7, 2008 "1968 Morrill Hall Takeover: Reflections on Black Bodies in Resistance" panel discussion; and "Morrill Hall Takeover 1969-2009: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants," a film made by youth from Minneapolis' Hope Community.

February 2009 issue of "The Village"

The latest issue of The Village is now available. The Village is a newsletter for friends and alumni of the Department of African American & African Studies.

Inside the February 2009 issue:

• welcome from the community outreach coordinator
  
• future scholars mentorship
  
• course spotlight
  
• NOMMO African American authors series
  
• student profile
  
• faculty spotlight
  
• upcoming events
  
• quote of the month

February 18 "Coffee Hour" presentation

The department's Spring 2009 "Coffee Hour" series will be composed of presentations from senior undergraduate students. On Wednesday, February 18, Noah Sims will present "Who Were the Zanj?" from 2:30-4:00 in the Geneva H. Southall Library (Social Sciences Tower 815). Noah will examine a community of Africans who overthrew labor-intensive slavery in 9th Century Southern Iraq.

The Atlantic's "State of the Union"

The January/February 2009 of The Atlantic magazine has several articles on American race relations in the "State of the Union" section:

• "The End of White America?"
  
• "American Girl [Michelle Obama]"
  
• "Race Over?"

40th Anniversary documentary

CLA Media Mill Video

A slightly larger version of the video can be viewed on St. Paul Neighborhood Network Access.

NOMMO Author Series: John Edgar Wideman

On Thursday, February 5, 7:00 P.M. at the University of Minnesota Cowles Auditorium, AA&AS professor Alexs Pate discusses the state of the art of African American literature with John Edgar Wideman, the author of more than 18 books of fiction and nonfiction. Wideman was the first writer to win the PEN/Faulkner Award twice, in 1984 for Sent for You Yesterday and in 1990 for Philadelphia Fire. His memoir Brothers and Keepers received a National Book Critics Circle nomination, and his memoir Fatheralong was a finalist for the National Book Award. In addition, he has won the Rea Award for the Short Story, the Lannan Foundation Fellowship for Fiction, and the MacArthur grant. Wideman's articles on Malcolm X, Spike Lee, Denzel Washington, Michael Jordan, Eminem, Thelonious Monk, and others have appeared in The New Yorker, Vogue, Esquire, Emerge, and The New York Times Magazine. Wideman is on the faculty of the African Studies Department of Brown University. The NOMMO African American Author Series is sponsored by the Givens Foundation for African American Literature in partnership with the University of Minnesota and the Friends of the University Libraries.