by Sarah Geegan The African American and Africana Studies (AAAS) program emerged in Fall 2011, uniting African American Studies & Research Program with Africana Studies, to create greater community presence, to provide international study opportunities in the focus area and to work toward creating an undergraduate major. In the Fall 2013, the area will expand even further, as two new distinguished faculty join the program. DaMaris B. Hill, currently a visiting professor of African-American literature from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and Chamara Jewel Kwakye, from University of Illinois, will begin teaching in the fall. DaMaris B. Hill is a writer and scholar who earned her doctorate in English-creative writing and women, gender and sexuality studies from the University of Kansas. Her story "On the
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By Kathy Johnson
Frank X Walker, associate professor of English at the University of Kentucky and recently announced Kentucky poet laureate, was the guest on the March 2 "UK at the Half," which aired during the UK vs. Arkansas game that was broadcast on radio.
"UK at the Half" airs during halftime of each UK football and basketball game broadcast on radio and is hosted by Carl Nathe of UK Public Relations and Marketing.
To hear the "UK at the Half" interview, click here. To view a transcript of the "UK at the Half" interview, click here.
By Breanna Shelton, Whitney Hale
In celebration of the University of Kentucky's upcoming sesquicentennial in 2015, the 46th of 150 weekly installments remembers the accomplishments of integration pioneer Doris Wilkinson.
As a freshman, Doris Wilkinson was one of the first African Americans to participate in the integration of UK after the Supreme Court declared public school segregation illegal. After receiving her bachelor's degree in 1958 from UK and her master's and doctoral degrees from Case Western Reserve University, the trailblazer became the first full-time female African-American faculty member at UK.
As a UK professor in the Department of Sociology, Wilkinson would also design the university's
By Whitney Hale, Mack McCormick
University Press of Kentucky (UPK) author bell hooks has been named the recipient of the 2013 Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s (BCALA) Best Poetry Award for her book "Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place."
The BCALA Literary Awards recognize excellence in adult fiction, nonfiction, poetry and publishing by African American authors published during the previous year, including an award for Best Poetry and a citation for Outstanding Contribution to Publishing. The award will be presented to hooks at the Annual Conference of the American Library Association
By Whitney Hale
In recognition of Black History Month, a photography exhibit of several generations of Kentucky African Americans is currently on display in the Margaret I. King Building on the University of Kentucky campus. "Kentucky: Roots, Times and Generations," which is up through Feb. 28, is free and open to the public.
The photographs on display have been curated by UK Librarian Reinette Jones from various archival collections available in UK Special Collections, such as the Sallie Price Family Papers and the Collection on African Americans in Kentucky
by Sarah Geegan
The 73rd annual convention of the College Language Association (CLA) will blossom in the Bluegrass this year. Themed, "Mason-Dixon and Maginot Lines: Borders, Boundaries and Barriers in Languages and Literatures," the conference will last from April 11-13, with pre-convention events on Wednesday, April 10.
The CLA, an organization that fosters high professional standards for teachers of languages, literature and creative writing, will hold its annual convention at the University of Kentucky. The event will include scholarly presentations, opportunities to exchange ideas with other colleagues and dialogues with specialists brought in by the association.
UK English professor
Video by UK Public Relations and Marketing
By Gail Hairston, Jenny Wells, Amy Jones, and Kody Kaiser
Gerald Smith has spent a lifetime studying the nation’s African-American leaders, including the formative years of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Lexington area will celebrate the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday, Jan. 21, with a march and program featuring Jeff Johnson. Register here to take part in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Challenge, or visit here for more
By Sarah Geegan & Ann Kingsolver
The UK Appalachian Center and the Appalachian Studies Program will host scholars, artists and NGO representatives from mountain regions all over the world on Oct. 25-27. This Global Mountain Regions conference, free and open to the public, will be focused on comparing notes across mountain regions on several continents as residents of those regions look to the future.
Each day, Thursday-Saturday, 8-5 p.m. in the William T. Young Library auditorium, presenters from Appalachia and from other mountain regions in Indonesia, Ecuador, Wales, India, Mexico, Italy, China, Sri Lanka, Mali, Canada, the U.
By Sarah Geegan
The S.T. Roach Community Conversations series, "Rebuilding the Block," will conclude its seven-month sequence on Father's Day weekend by honoring outstanding men in the community.
The Sankofa Awards, honoring African-American men who have demonstrated excellence in the categories of service, social and environmental justice, scholarship, philanthropy, creativity and entrepreneurship, will provide a symbolic end to the series that began in December 2011. Consisting of monthly public forums led by UK experts at the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center, the series focused on
By Sarah Geegan
Jakobi Williams, professor in the UK Department of History and in the African American and Africana Studies Program, will present the next lecture in the "Rebuilding the Block," S.T. Roach Community Conversation series, at 11 a.m., on Saturday, April 14, at the Lyric Theatre.
The "Rebuilding the Block" series is a seven-month sequence of public lectures, led by UK experts and focused around the theme of African-American males. Held at the Lyric Theatre in east Lexington, the conversations are broken into sub-themes, each presenting relevant issues in a particular expert's field
By Sarah Geegan
Frank X Walker, professor in the UK Department of English and the African American and Africana Studies Program, will read and discuss his poetry at 1:30 p.m. Monday, April 9, at Midway College's Anne Hart Raymond Center. The event is sponsored by Chapter F, a local chapter of the International organization, P.E.O.
A local poet, professor and playwright, Walker provides "an eclectic, powerful mixture of liberating style, profound insight and unwavering organic connection to the intellectual, political and cultural struggles of people," said Ricky Jones, professor at the University of Louisville's Department of Pan-African Studies.
Walker’s work captures the profound feelings of love and loss; he
By Sarah Geegan
Students in professor Randolph Hollingsworth's research seminar expanded the boundaries of a typical history class as they examined the complexities and influences of Kentucky civil rights era women. By participating in digital dialogues, contributing to online databases and engaging in community service, the students experienced history by thinking outside the book.
"We don't have many scholarly books covering the wide-ranging history of women in Kentucky," Hollingsworth said. "One thing that we've found is that women are simply absent in many historical records. Sometimes it's a willful absence, and people choose not to include them. But then other times, it's just neglect."
The course aimed to begin filling this historical void. Students served as history-detectives, acquiring
By Sarah Geegan
The African American and Africana Studies Program at the University of Kentucky will present the 18th annual Black Women's Conference March 22-24.
The conference, titled, "Learning the Ropes: Black Girlhood, Identity and the Power of Play," will center specifically on the lives and expressions of African-American girls. Incorporating expert speakers, performances, panels and activities both on campus and in the community, the conference will reveal the significance of play in the lives of African-American girls.
Melynda Price, professor in the UK College of Law
by Sarah Geegan
The African American and Africana Studies Program at the University of Kentucky is partnering with the Lyric Theatre to provide a series of community lectures. Engaging the community and strengthening UK's relations with East Lexington, the lectures aim to "rebuild the block."
The Rebuilding the Block, S.T. Roach Community Conversation series is a seven-month sequence of public lectures, led by UK experts and focused around the theme of African-American males. The conversations are broken into sub-themes, each presenting relevant issues in a particular expert's field that relate to black men.
By Sarah Geegan
Three experts in the areas of gender, sexuality and politics of identity will share insight with UK students in professor Vershawn Young's classes this spring.
Young, of the Department of Gender and Women's Studies and the Department of English, will incorporate the speaker series including Daniel Black, Lisa Moore and Sharon Bridgforth into his ENG 480 and GWS 595 classes. These courses focus on gender and race in documentary film through the work of late film maker Marlon Riggs. Riggs' work addressed representations of African Americans in the
By Gail Hurston
University of Kentucky Diversity Education & Community Building (DE&CB) students with the assistance of faculty and staff members have organized a full month of activities for the 2012 Black History Month Collaborative.
“As Black History Month chair for the first time,” said UK student Brittany Clayborne, “I'd like to say that I'm honored to be hosting such a position within the Black Student Union. I'm learning every day, and enjoyed it because of the hardworking students and faculty around me that have done all they could to make this a strong month. I'm excited for these programs because not only am I helping others learn more about their heritage, I'm learning about myself. I feel like everyone on campus should be eager to participate as a result of the time and effort
By Whitney Hale
Leave your stereotypes of Appalachia at the door as the University of Kentucky Department of Art challenges preconceived notions of the region through an evening of poetry and music at "StereoType: Unexpected Appalachian Stories."
The reading, featuring poets Theo Edmonds, Paulette Hansel, Hope Johnson, Dale Marie Prenatt, Eric Scott Sutherland and Frank X Walker, will begin 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at Tuska Center for Contemporary Art. The event is free and open to the public.
Through a focus on social justice issues as well as multiple themes of family, race, gender, sexuality, identity and place, "StereoType" will challenge the stereotypical notions of a homogeneous
On Sunday, December 4, English professor and Director of the African American and Africana Studies Program Frank X Walker spoke with hosts Lezell Lowe, Andrea James, and Dr. Sonja Fiest-Price of Groovin 1580AM Lexington. Professor Walker spoke about the Lyric Theater series, "S.T. Roach Community Conversations: Rebuilding the Block". The series is committed to celebrating black male leadership and excellence. Listen to the full interview below.
By Kathy Johnson
The University of Kentucky Appalachian Center, Appalachian Studies and the Graduate Appalachian Research Community are making a call for papers for the 2012 UK Appalachian Research Symposium and Arts Showcase. The topic of the work must be related to Appalachia, original, and produced in the last three years.
The deadline for submitting an abstract of work online is midnight Dec. 15. The submission can be made by going to the GARC tab on www.appalachiancenter.org and clicking on the "Abstract
By Erin Holaday Ziegler
University of Kentucky creative writing Professor Nikky Finney has won the 2011 National Book Award in Poetry for her recent work, “Head Off & Split.” Finney attended the award ceremony last night in New York City, where she accepted the highly prestigious honor.
“Head Off & Split” was published by Northwestern University Press in February of this year, and Finney has been touring with the book since late winter.
The National Book Award website says the poems in Finney's "Head Off & Split" "sustain a sensitive and intense dialogue with emblematic figures and events in African-American life: from Civil Rights matriarch Rosa Parks, to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, from a brazen girl strung out on lightning, to a terrified woman abandoned on a