Spring 2002

Volume 5 Number 2
A publication of Macon State College

Macon State's Black History Month Activities Focus on Education, Service to Community

By Renee Pearman

Macon State students have listened to novelist Tina McElroy Ansa read from her current bestseller and Nikki Giovanni recite her award-winning poetry. They have learned about the songs and stories passed down through the centuries by those living on Georgia's coastal isles and about African-American artisans' uncredited contributions to Macon's architecture.

They have watched performance artist Anna M. Johnson-Webb bring to life historical figures Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. They have discovered the art of Wilfred Stroud and Eddie Granderson and the voices of soprano Anna Neal and bass-baritone Oral Moses. They have been introduced to all styles of music, from anthems and spirituals to jazz, classical and opera.

All of these opportunities were presented over the years by the College's Black History Month Committee, with support from the MSC Black Student Unification/Minority Advising and Achievement Program.

"At Macon State, we want to use Black History Month to celebrate our diversity and to spotlight multicultural education," said Mary Mears, associate professor of English and reading in the Division of Learning Support and 2002-03 chair of the MSC Black History Month Committee.

In 1926, Harvard graduate Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who was the son of former slaves, introduced the idea of Negro History Week in an attempt to bring national attention to the contributions of African-Americans. Woodson chose the second week of February because it marks the birthdays of two men he believed significantly impacted the lives of American blacks: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Fifty years later, Negro History Week evolved into Black History Month.

"Our Black History Month activities are designed to educate all of us so that we can learn to coexist in a better informed, more inclusive society," Mears said.

The Black History Month Committee develops a theme for each year's observance, then schedules an assortment of events. "We encourage faculty to bring their classes, we open these events to the public, and we invite local school children," Mears said. "We try to schedule morning and evening events that will reach all of our students, and we try to offer a variety of activities. In the past, our guests have included dancers, artists, writers, historians, singers, musicians, genealogists and sculptors."

Funding for Black History Month events has come from the Macon State College Artists & Lecturers Series Committee, the Black Student Unification/Minority Advising & Achievement Program, the MSC Faculty Development Committee, the MSC Foundation, the Georgia Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly.

While Black History Month events focus on education, MLK Day at Macon State incorporates community service in keeping with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s belief that "all of us can be great because everyone can serve."

Dr. Myra Jackson, associate vice president for Minority Student Achievement, has organized MLK Day campus events for the past several years.

A psychology professor, Jackson encourages all students to give back to their communities by sharing their time and talents. She shares this message with students in her classroom and with the student members of the Black Student Unification/Minority Advising and Achievement Program at Macon State, for which she is the faculty advisor.

"I remind our students of the words of Coretta Scott King: 'The greatest birthday gift my husband could receive is if people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds celebrated the holiday by performing individual acts of kindness through service to others,' " she said.
"Working with a diverse group of student volunteers who are committed to making a difference in the lives of others has been our mission this year."

Through the efforts of Jackson and MSC Admissions representative Craig Jackson, the college has received two federally funded grants from the Corporation for National and Community Service that have allowed MSC students to coordinate and participate in such projects as:

• Collecting and delivering donated clothing to area nursing homes;
• Developing a character camp for at-risk students in Bibb County Schools;
• Delivering donated clothing and books to the Carl Vinson Veterans Administration Medical Center in Dublin;
• Collecting more than 1,000 food items for the Macon Rescue Mission;
• Working with the Macon-Bibb County Fire Department to distribute and install smoke detectors in area residences.

The 2002 MLK Day celebration included a morning of dance and musical performances blended with guest speakers, among them the Rev. Derek Dumas who gave a moving rendition of King's "I Have A Dream" speech, but the community service projects, Jackson said, will continue through the academic year.