Campus Celebrates 40th Anniversary of African American Society, Africana Studies, Russwurm Center Nov. 6-8

Story posted October 21, 2009

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Spirits Watching, a print autographed by David C. Driskell H'89 and dedicated to the John Brown Russwurm African American Center at Bowdoin College.

Alumni, students, faculty, and staff will gather at Bowdoin November 6-8, 2009, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the College's African American Society, the Africana Studies Program, and the dedication of the John Brown Russwurm African American Center.

The campus-wide celebration will recognize the milestone of three major anniversaries, the presence of African Americans at Bowdoin, and the strides made by the African American Society over the past four decades; and emphasize Bowdoin's commitment to diversity as demonstrated through academic programs, student and faculty recruitment, and alumni engagement.

Weekend highlights will include an alumni panel, an Africana Studies academic symposium, talks by distinguished alumni and invited speakers, and social events.

Africana Studies at Bowdoin in the 21st Century
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New trends and polemics in Africana Studies will be examined as part of the 40th anniversary. A discipline that emerged widely at colleges and universities in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of student and faculty activism in civil rights in America, the field has expanded to include wide discourse on the history, culture, sociology, religion and influence of people of African heritage around the world.

"We are looking at a 21st-century discipline in which a new generation of scholars are pushing the frontiers of knowledge with new questions on historical analysis, theories, concepts, and epistemologies that are challenging received knowledge on African American, African diaspora, and African experiences in the context of modernity. These question particularly resonate in the context of our rapidly changing globalized world," notes Olufemi Vaughan (above), Geoffrey Canada Professor of Africana Studies and History and director of the Africana Studies Program at Bowdoin.

"In my own humble opinion, it would be difficult to seriously engage American humanistic disciplines without putting the black experience at its core—on matters as varied as politics (especially the meaning of citizenship and democracy), culture, religion, music, gender, sexuality, art, science and society, etc. As a field of study, Africana Studies must not be marginal in the American experience since it comes from the inner belly of the American national experience itself. The field provides a critical space for scholars of diverse experiences to ask small and big questions about varied, complex, and overlapping African American, African diasporic, and African experiences in the modern world."



Events Open to the Campus Community and the General Public

Saturday, November 7
• "Blackness Beyond Borders: Reflections on the Shared History of Race in Mexico and the United States," a talk by Ben Vinson III, professor of Latin American history and director of the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
1:30 p.m., Room 315, Searles Science Building

• "Bowdoin's Africana Studies Program: Enduring Traditions and New Directions," a Bowdoin faculty symposium moderated by Olufemi Vaughan, director of the Africana Studies Program, and featuring faculty members Ericka Albaugh (Government), Judith Casselberry (Africana Studies), Keona Ervin (History), Lacey Gale (Africana Studies), Margaret Hanétha Vété-Congolo (Romance Languages), Jessica Johnson (Africana Studies), Jim McCalla (Music), Elizabeth Muther (English), and Patrick Rael (History).
3:45 p.m., Room 315, Searles Science Building

Ongoing
• Exhibition: From Process to Print: Graphic Works by Romare Bearden. This nationally traveling exhibition focuses on artist Romare Bearden's innovative printmaking techniques and sheds new light on his sources of inspiration and process. Read more about this exhibition...
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Bernard and Barbro Osher, Halford, and Center Galleries

• Exhibition: Freedom's Journal. This exhibition features selections from the Library's George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives. The archival record of the College and the Library's rare book and manuscript collections provide a wealth of primary resources for Africana Studies learning and research. Read more about this exhibition...
Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, Second Floor

Events Open to the Campus Community Only

Friday, November 6
• African American Society House Party.
10 p.m., John Brown Russwurm African American Center

Saturday, November 7
• Celebration Ball.
10 p.m., Main Lounge, Moulton Union

Sunday, November 8
• "Bowdoin Admissions and Diversity," a discussion with Elmer Moore, associate dean of admissions.
10 a.m., John Brown Russwurm African American Center

Invitation Only Events

Friday, November 6
• Welcome Reception for alumni and students, featuring performances by jazz pianist Ahmad Hassan Muhammad '10 and the a cappella group Miscellania.
7 p.m., John Brown Russwurm African American Center

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John Brown Russwurm, Class of 1826, Bowdoin's first African American graduate, is believed to be just the third African American to graduate from an American college. An abolitionist and journalist, he served as the governor of the Maryland Colony of Liberia.

Saturday, November 7
• Alumni Panel. Alumni, including Theodore Howe '55, Edwin Bell '66, Paul Wiley '71, and Jessica Walker '09, will discuss "The Bowdoin Experience." Robert Johnson '71 will introduce the panel and Iris Davis '78 will moderate the discussion.
10 a.m., Beam Classroom, Visual Arts Center

• Cocktail Reception, featuring mbira music from Zimbabwe performed by Bowdoin's World Music Ensemble.
6:30 p.m., Daggett Lounge, Thorne Hall

• 40th Anniversary Dinner, featuring remarks by President Barry Mills '72 and Geoffrey Canada '74, president and CEO of Harlem Children's Zone.
7:30 p.m., Daggett Lounge, Thorne Hall

Fortieth anniversary events are sponsored by the Office of Alumni Relations, the Africana Studies Program, the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs, the Office of the Dean for Academic Affairs, and the African American Society.

For more information call Alumni Relations at 207-725-3266.

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