Black History Month at ODU

This year's theme for Black History Month is "Quest for Black Citizenship in the Americas." It's an appropriate theme, as last November millions of citizens of every color voted to elect the country's first minority president, Barack Obama.

The Black History Month theme is being celebrated and explored at Old Dominion University through a number of events this month.

Selected events this week:

7 p.m. - Monday, Feb. 16: "Black Is ... Black Ain't," a ground-breaking documentary by filmmaker Marlon Riggs. Potomac York Room in Webb University Center. 

7:15 p.m. - Thursday, Feb. 19: "A New Day: Implications of the Obama Presidency," sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. Room 1012 of the Batten Arts and Letters Building. There will be a reception with light refreshments starting at 6:30 p.m.

To see the full list of events, go to the Student Affairs Black History Month home page, at http://studentaffairs.odu.edu/oir/blackhistorymonth2009.pdf.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

The centennial of the NAACP is being used to highlight issues of race and citizenship in American history, from the experiences of free blacks in a land of slavery, to the political aspirations of African Americans today.

Black History Month organizers also hope the theme of this year's celebration will prompt scholars and citizens to look at the history of other nations in the Americas, where former slaves also sought the fruits of citizenship.