SPEAKERS BUREAU HIGHLIGHT: PROGRAMS FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH AND BEYOND

The Speakers Bureau is a great resource for nonprofits and schools to bring enriching educational programs to their audiences.

Black History Month is around the corner and NMHC would like to take the opportunity to highlight three of our Speakers Bureau programs.

The Pre-Civil War Complicated Lives of People of African Descent
Presented by Sherri Burr

Join Professor Sherri Burr, the author of Complicated Lives: Free Blacks in Virginia, 1619-1865, for a discussion on how the arrival of Africans changed the Virginia colony and the country into a multi-racial community where legal rights were advanced and restricted. Unbeknownst to most Americans, Africans and Indians possessed rights to own land (which was never stripped) and to vote (up until 1723). Slavery evolved in a convoluted legal manner that was challenged after the Revolutionary War as prominent slaveholders contemplated how they could continue to hold humans. Instead of slavery being eliminated following the colonists’ successful fight for their liberty from Britain, several events increased its hold on the county, including the outlawing of the international slavery trade and the Louisiana Purchase. This brought pain to Native Americans who were dispossessed of their land and to enslaved Africans sold to the Deep South. This history of race progression and regression has repercussions for today.

Black Poetry in New Mexico and Beyond
Presented by Darryl Lorenzo Wellington

A presentation by the Santa Fe Poet Laureate, Darryl Lorenzo Wellington on Black Poetry in America, in New Mexico and Beyond, with selections from his own work, Hakim Bellamy, Jay Wright, and many poets outside of New Mexico, for example, Langston Hughes, Sonia Sanchez, Alice Walker, Ross Gay, and others. The historical trajectory from the Civil War till today will show how Black poets have consistently aligned themselves with Black empowerment and anti-racist political movements, from the anti-slavery movement to the anti-lynching campaigns, and from the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, up to today, when so many poets have been inspired by Black Lives Matter.

The Power of Indignation: Richard Wright, Black American Novelist
Presented by Darryl Lorenzo Wellington

Darryl Lorenzo Wellington recreates the life and times of preeminent Black novelist, Richard Wright.

Richard Wright (1908-1960), the author of the novel Native Son (1940) and the autobiography Black Boy (1945) pioneered an influential school of protest literature. He became the first Black writer to pen a bestseller that overtly criticized racism and white supremacy. Born into dire poverty and oppression in segregated Mississippi, his journey to international success was so unlikely that upon meeting him the most famous sociologist of the 1940’s asked, “How in hell did YOU happen?” Following his success, Wright grew disillusioned with the United States, and, in 1947, relocated to France. Before his death in 1960, at age 52, he coined the phrase “Black Power” in support of African anti-colonial revolutions. Darryl Lorenzo Wellington recreates Wright’s final days, looking back on his career, while delivering a lecture to an American audience in Paris. The show is approximately 40 minutes, followed by a ten to fifteen minute Q&A with Wellington, in character as Richard Wright.

It is important to celebrate heritage and history months such as Black History Month, Native American Heritage Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and Women’s History Month. However, it’s also important to remember that these histories and heritages do not stop being relevant because the calendar has changed. It is always a good time to learn with a program from NMHC’s Speakers Bureau. Celebrate the people, stories and lessons throughout the year!