February 5, 2004

UCSD Celebrates Black History Month With Activities
Throughout February: Lectures, Jazz, Dance, Gospel Music

By Jan Jennings

Black History Month is being celebrated during February with a month-long series of activities at the University of California, San Diego. The theme is 50 Years of Challenges & Triumphs for African Americans: Reflecting on our Past, Challenging the Present and Shaping our Future in Higher Education. All events are open to the public.

The activities commemorate the 50th anniversary of the decision of Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka in which the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 ended federally-sanctioned racial segregation in the public schools by ruling unanimously that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

Featured Black History Month events are the second annual Celebration and Scholarship Brunch to be held Feb. 21 and Gospel Fest 2004 on Feb. 27. Also included in the February activities are a performance by the Jazz Tap Ensemble of Los Angeles, Feb. 18, and a Brown Bag Lunch with Joseph W. Watson, vice chancellor, Student Affairs, speaking on The Status of African Americans at UCSD, Feb. 25.

Attorney James Curtis, an anchor for Court TVs daytime trial coverage, a former California prosecutor, and a UCSD alumni, will speak at the Feb. 21 brunch to be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the UCSD Faculty Club. He will address the inroads and successes African Americans have made in higher education and the course of challenges and opportunities ahead.

Curtis has appeared on numerous television networks as a legal commentator, including NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, ABC, CNN and Fox News. He has commented on such high-profile cases as Jon-Benet Ramsey, the President Clinton impeachment hearings, and the Columbine school shooting. Curtis received his degree in Spanish literature from UCSD’s Thurgood Marshall College and is a graduate of the California Western School of Law.

In addition to Curtis’ talk, the Feb. 21 brunch celebration will include performances by local choirs and a silent auction to benefit undergraduate scholarships at UCSD. Tickets for the brunch are $35 and may be obtained at the UCSD Box Office at (858) 534-4559.

A Black Alumni Dinner & Dance will be held from 6:30 to 11 that evening in the Eucalyptus Point Conference Center on the Thurgood Marshall College campus.

The Black History Month finale, Gospel Fest 2004, will be presented at 6 p.m. Feb. 27 in the Price Center Theater. Choirs from throughout San Diego will compete for the title of UCSD’s Gospel Choir/Singer of the Year.

In addition, three students representing local elementary, middle, and high schools will read their first prize-winning Black History Month essays which address the Black History Month theme, 50 Years of Challenges & Triumphs for African Americans. For further information on Gospel Fest 2004, call (858) 822-4586.

Major sponsors for UCSD’s Black History Month events are the UJIMA Network, an alliance of UCSD African American students, staff, faculty, and alumni; the Office of the Chancellor; the Office of the Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs, and the University Events Office. The UJIMA Network takes its name from the Swahili word, UJIMA, meaning “collective work and responsibility.”

Black History Month Planning Committee co-chairs are Renee Barnett-Terry, dean of Student Affairs, Revelle College, and Darlene Willis, executive administrative officer, Office of the Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs.

For a complete listing of activities scheduled at UCSD during Black History Month, visit the website at http://blackhistorymonth.ucsd.edu. For further information call (858) 534-3492.

Media Contact: Jan Jennings (858) 822-1684