Alabama A&M presents art, documentaries for Black History Month

NORMAL — Alabama A&M University (AAMU) has a diverse slate planned for Black History Month 2013, ranging from art to documentaries and readings.

The month’s theme is “At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington,” public relations contact Jerome Saintjones said.

African art will be shown throughout the AAMU Archives Collection. Also on Feb. 1-15, student art from local high schools and a collection from Gilbert, Ariz. will be on exhibit in the Morrison Fine Arts Building from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. During February, AAMU student artwork will be displayed at Huntsville Public Library.

On Feb. 9 at 10 a.m., WJAB-FM 90.9 will present “Let Freedom Sing: The Music of the Abolitionists.” “The program chronicles idealistic artists, uncompromising personalities and powerful music of the era,” Saintjones said. “The show looks at how these forces combined to turn abolitionism from a scorned fringe movement into a nation-changing force.”

Also on WJAB, “Humankind Weekly” will continue its explorations of non-violence with Dr. Arun Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, on Feb. 14 at 8 a.m.

“Maya Angelou’s Black History Special” will air on WJAB on Feb. 17 at 3 p.m. “Maya Angelou poetically and historically covers milestones by African-Americans in Nobel peace, Grammy, Pulitzer and Academy Awards,” Saintjones said

AAMU Department of Social Sciences is sponsoring “Reading Across the Curriculum and Community” in Drake Hall on Feb. 21 at 12:30 p.m. The selected reading will be “Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II” (racc-aamu2013.blogspot.com).

The documentary “Justice Denied” explores ways that federal courts enforced slave laws. Historians, actors and legal scholars re-create the famous case of a young escaped slave who was sent back by a Boston judge, provoking America’s largest abolitionist protest. This piece will air on WJAB at noon on Feb. 28.

For more information, visit aamu.edu/news.