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Black History Month at JSC

January 26, 2015
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Black History Month at JSC

Blues band, ‘American Denial’ and Zora Neale Hurston highlight free events

January 26, 2015

Johnson State College is observing Black History Month in February with a series of events starting Feb. 4. The events, which are free and open to the public, include:

  • Wednesday, Feb. 4: Daddy Mack Blues Band brings its authentic Memphis sound to JSC’S Dibden Center for the Arts at 8 p.m. Teaming up with brothers Harold and James Bonner, drummer William Faulkner and keyboardist Charlie Wood, Daddy Mack has created a mix of original music with classic tunes that is a testimony to the down-home traditional blues sound. For more information, contact the Dibden Box Office, jscdibden.boxoffice@jsc.edu or 802-635-1476.

  • Tuesday, Feb. 10: The documentary film American Denial will be screened at 7 p.m. in 207 Bentley Hall. The film follows the story of foreign researcher and Nobel Laureate Gunnar Myrdal, whose study, An American Dilemma (1944), provided a provocative inquiry into the dissonance between stated beliefs as a society and what is perpetuated and allowed in the name of those beliefs. His inquiry into the United States’ racial psyche becomes a lens for modern inquiry into how denial, cognitive dissonance, and unrecognized, unconscious attitudes continue to dominate racial dynamics in American life. Archival footage, newsreels, nightly news reports, and rare Southern home movies from the ’30s and ’40s thread through the story, as well as psychological testing into racial attitudes from research footage, websites, and YouTube films. The film is part of the JSC/Vermont PBS Community Cinema series.

  • Monday, Feb. 16: American Place Theatre will bring literature to life in the one-woman show Zora at 7 p.m. in the Dibden Center for the Arts. Cheryl Howard plays writer Zora Neale Hurston, one of the most important and celebrated figures to emerge from the Harlem Renaissance. Outspoken, spirited and gifted, Hurston wrote books defining the black American experience. In this dramatic biography, Zora invites the audience into her exemplary life, rich with folklore, intimate portraits of her contemporaries, and excerpts from her significant body of literary work. Teaching artist Lisa Strum will introduce the show and lead a discussion afterward.

For more information on the events, contact Emily Neilsen, 802-635-1408 or Emily.Neilsen@jsc.edu.