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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us February 18, 2006 Members of the Black Student Union stand outside of the Historic Ashland Armory after the Martin Luther King celebration on Jan. 16. Joe Fallon | For the Tidings SOU celebrates Black History Month By Chris Honoré Tidings Correspondent February marks Black History Month — a celebration that has existed since 1926. Started by Harvard scholar Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who was committed to placing blacks in the mainstream of history as participants who made a significant contribution, not simply spectators. He organized the first Negro History Week in 1926, in the second week of February, a date chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincloln — two men who had profoundly influenced the black population. Over time, Negro History Week evolved into Black History Month, a four-week celebration of African-American History. It is in keeping with that tradition that the Black Student Union of Southern Oregon University will host the award-winning writer, composer and saxophonist James McBride as their featured speaker on Feb. 22, in the Rogue River Room. McBride studied composition at The Oberlin Conservancy of Music in Ohio, and received a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. He worked as a journalist for eight years at The Boston Globe, People Magazine, Rolling Stone and The Washington Post. He was recently chosen by American composer and jazz legend Quincy Jones to write his biography. He has won numerous awards for musical theater composition and is the recipient of the 1997 Anisfield Wolf Book Award. McBride’s stunning resume is highlighted by the worldwide success of his memoir, “The Color of Water,” which remained on the New York Times Best-Seller List for two years and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. It was chosen by the New York Women’s Agenda as the book for New York City Reads Together. It has sold more than 1.5 million copies in America and is regarded as an American classic. Read in high schools and colleges, it is an autobiographical account of his mother, born Ruchel Dwarja Zylska to a Polish Orthodox Jewish family that immigrated to the U.S. in 1921. The daughter of an itinerant rabbi in rural Virginia, she ran away to Harlem and married a black Baptist minister and raised twelve children in the all-black housing projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn. This remarkable biography explores the complex and seminal ideas of race and identity in the modern era. According to River Walker, a senior at SOU and the Black Student Union’s media representative, the group has been in existence for some 15 years. In the mid-1990’s, in order to be more inclusive, the name was changed from African-American Student Union to its current name. The idea was to be more inclusive of black students at SOU who were from places outside the U.S. Walker stated that there are students in the union from Brazil and Kenya, and “the term ‘African-American’ isn’t inclusive to their cultural background.” She went on to say, “The reason we chose James McBride is to celebrate this diversity within black culture in the United States. Being black in America has obvious roots in African culture, but it also, more often than not, includes a shared heritage and connection with other cultures. ‘The Color of Water’ pays homage to this cultural diversity within black culture and celebrates our connections with other cultures.” When Walker was asked about being a black student at SOU and in Ashland, she said her experiences have been mostly positive. “I myself have never experienced any act of overt racism in the Rogue Valley, but I have heard stories from my friends, and it does happen. Racism is subtle and sneaky nowadays. As a student it is something I feel in the classroom whenever the subject of race or ethnicity is brought up. There is always a profound silence, an unwillingness to start a dialogue and think critically about the subject. Maybe since there’s a black person in the room, the students are afraid to offend and just play it safe. But I would rather hear their awkward attempts rather than the deafening silence, which negates reality and disrespects the progress of previous generations. You don’t have to say the n-word to be racist. You simply can just say nothing.” Hassan Harris, a senior and member of the BSU, speaking about McBride coming to SOU, stated, “I feel McBride is a renaissance man. What he has done is made clear that you don’t have to be just one thing. As he says in his book, ‘The Color of Water,’ his mother told him not to worry about the color of your skin. She told him to educate himself.” Education is invaluable, Harris said. “It’s an avenue that needs to be embraced by black kids. Unfortunately the black community lost faith in education a long time ago. We need to turn the message around. It shouldn’t be cooler not to do than to do.” Regarding his experience as a black man at SOU and in Ashland, a place he referred to as “wonderful,” he commented that he has never felt like a second-class citizen, even when he and a group of his friends walk down the street and they notice that women may hug their purses closer, or a girl with a guy might lean in closer. It’s just something he’s lived with all of his life, and can even laugh about. However, he acknowledged, when the black SOU athlete, Nick Hanson, was tasered by the police and later died at the hospital due to reported drug involvement, Harris said that the question came to mind, “Did it have anything to do with Nick being black? And what does it say about our country that I still have such thoughts?” McBride’s speech at SOU is entitled, “Color of Water: Search for Identity.” There will be a book signing table at 6:30 p.m. an hour before the speech. Admission is $5 for students/staff and $8 for the general public. Tickets can be purchased before the event at the Raider Aid Store at SOU. For more information, call the Black Student Union office at (541) 552-8159. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams