THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, FEBUARY 11, 2009
NEWS
CAMPUS
3A
Professor hopes students find history connections
Black Student Union celebrates 100 years of black history with symposium
This month also holds a special importance for the African-American Community because Thursday is the 100-year anniversary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
BY BETSY CUTCLIFF
bcutcliff@kansan.com
During this year's black history month, students and professors alike said, they hoped to draw new attention to the history of African-Americans.
To memorize the month's events, the Langston Hughes Center for African-American Studies is hosting a symposium Friday.
Speakers will give presentations about the NAACP throughout American history and the effects the organization have had on African-Americans today.
"It's a really good time to have pride about our history," Koga Moffor, Overland Park senior and president of the KU Black Student Union, said.
Shawn Alexander, professor of African-American Studies, said speakers would specifically highlight the future tasks of the NAACP by promoting civil rights and upholding the 14th and 15th amendments.
Alexander said he wished students better understood the link between African-American history and American history.
"When you see the watershed events, you'll see that black history is American history," Alexander said.
He said that before the composition of the Constitution or the Revolutionary War, race relations had been an issue in America.
Joel Cowart, Los Angeles junior, agreed with Alexander and said he wished more emphasis was placed on the role of African-Americans throughout history.
"When you sit in the majority of your history classes, you don't hear about black history even though it is such a huge part of American history." Cowart said.
Alexander said he hoped the symposium would bring more awareness to the black experience, and said the election of Barack Obama and the NAACP's centennial only added to the pride and importance of this particular month.
Alexander said he was afraid that the election of a black president would call people to think racism was less of an issue.
He said students needed to know that electing a black president didn't nullify the "bloody history of race relations in America"
"We elected a president who
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM
What: A Century of the NAACP and the Struggle for Racial Equality
When: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at the Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union
Cost: Registration is $30.
White Ovington, the founders chose Thursday to unveil the new organization because the date was former President Lincoln's birthday.
Why: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded in 1909 to pursue equal rights. According to an article written in 1914 by co-founder Mary
The creation of Black History Month originated as "Negro History Week" in 1926 because the month of February held the birthdays of two prominent figures in black history: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist and former slave.
PIECES OF HISTORY
point for refugees was the ferry landing at bar Abe and Jake's Landing at Second and New Hampshire streets. Conductors hid runaway slaves at the former Miller family home and smokehouse, located at 19th and Haskell streets.
Race relations have been a part of Kansas history since the First African-Americans arrived in the 1820s.
The territory was dubbed "Bleeding Kansas" during the Civil War era because it had become a battleground over slavery with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1864, which defined the states of Kansas and Nebraska and stated the citizens could vote to make slavery legal or illegal in their state.
In 1860, Kansas' constitution banned slavery and in 1861 joined the Union
In 1954 Kansas broke the education barrier with the landmark legal case Brown v. the Board of Education, overturning the previous ruling the public schools must be segregated.
Lawrence was a depot station for the underground railroad. A major receiving
BLACK STUDENT UNION EVENTS
Events take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Relays Room in the Burge Union
Feb 18: "We've Got To Do Better" discussion about how we can continue progressing as a people
Feb 16: Kappa Alpha Psi: Women's Appreciation Calendar
Feb 19: BSU Study Session
Feb 17: Motown Movie Night
Feb 22: Soul food dinner
happens to be black," Alexander said. "That won't erase racism."
Moffor said the Black Student Union was holding its own events to invite students to discuss current issues within black culture.
"One issue is how black women are portrayed on TV," she said.
"We want to look at and talk about things that affect us in everyday life"
Moffor said the events were open to anyone who wished to participate.
Edited by Jesse Trimble
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V-DAY (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
The Community Mercantile, 901 Iowa St., has been getting its Valentine's Day roses from Earth Flowers in Lecompton for the past three years.
A ROSIER EARTH
Earth Flowers grows all its flowers on Henry's Plant Farm, which is about 10 miles outside of Lawrence.
Schimke said the VeriFlora certification ensured good working conditions for workers and emphasized growing flowers in a natural and sustainable way, with little to no use of pesticides.
Jozie Schimke, one of the Earth Flowers growers, said VeriFlora, a sustainability certification program, certified all the flowers she grew.
Although the VertFlora certification does not guarantee that the flowers are certified organic, Schimk said the process was generally pesticide-free.
"All our field flowers are pesticide-free." Schimke said. "Sometimes we mix up baking soda, water and horticultural oil to kill powdery mildew on plants, but that's the only thing that would be considered a pesticide."
Edited by Chris Hickerson
LIBRARY
Schimke said Earth Flower bouquets and sets of a half-dozen roses would sell for $7.99 to $17.99 at the Merc.
LIBRARY (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
"We're just trying to get people to think about how inefficient the auto industry is" Sanwar said.
will showcase at the exhibit.
Sanwar said EcoHawks was pleased with the library committee's choice of climate change as its first exhibit theme. He said EcoHawks hoped to receive visitor feedback on the computerized design plans of the car the group
Smith said the new exhibit's environmental theme would complement other campus exhibits such as the "Climate Change at the Poles" exhibit at the Spencer Museum of Art.
"I think it's a good step forward because everything we see on TV is about global warming, and how we're not going to have enough energy for the future," Sanwar said. "So this project is definitely important to society as a whole."
"The libraries see that they have an important role in showcasing scholarship happening all around campus", Smith said.
Edited by Chris Horn
Wildfires sweep Australia, kill 181
Firefighter David Tree shares his water with an injured Australian koala at Mirboo North after wildfires swept through the region on Monday.
BY ROHAN SULLIVAN
Associated Press
SYDNEY — It was a chance encounter in the charred landscape of Australia's deadly wildfires. A koala sips water from a bottle offered by a firefighter.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
David Tree noticed the koala moving gingerly on scorched paws as his fire patrol passed. Clearly in pain, the animal stopped when it saw Tree.
"It was amazing, he turned around, sat on his bum and sort of looked at me with (a look) like, put me out of my misery," Tree told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "I yelled out for a bottle of water. I unscrewed the bottle, tipped it up on his lips and he just took it naturally."
"He kept reaching for the bottle, almost like a baby."
ly firestorms swept southern Victoria state.
The team called animal welfare officers to pick up the koala Sunday, the day after dead-
"I love nature, and I've handled koalas before. They're not the friendliest things, but I wanted to help him," Tree said.
Often mistakenly called koala
bears because they resemble a child's teddy bear, the marsupial is actually a rather grumpy creature with a loud growl.
The fires also razed farmland, killing or panicking sheep and cattle.
THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS funded by Student Senat
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Please donate a canned good item for a local food pantry or a monetary donation for the American Cancer Society
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Date, Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
7:30
Location: The Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union
Address: 1301 Jayhawk Blvd. Lawrence, Kansas 66045
For more information please contact Bro.Darian Nave at bluphil1979@ku.edu