Bergen Community College

A Malian textile – “Bogolanfini” (pictured) – and other art curated by the Society of African Missions will reside in the Sidney Silverman Library during Black History Month.

PARAMUS, N.J. – Headlined by speakers Dr. Roger Mitchell Jr., a forensic pathologist and author, and Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Ph.D., director of the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and an art exhibition curated by the Tenafly-based Society of African Missions, Bergen Community College will recognize a century of black life, history and culture during February’s Black History Month.

The highlighted events are free and open the public and will take place at the College’s main campus located at 400 Paramus Road.

*Sunday, Feb. 1: Artist-in-residence Alonzo Adams, whose past credits include displays at Howard University and the Russell Senate Office Building, will open Black History Month at Bergen by unveiling an exhibition of his artwork on the main floor of the College’s Pitkin Education Center.

*Monday, Feb. 2: At 11 a.m. in the Anna Maria Ciccone Theatre, the month’s keynote speaker, Dr. Mitchell Jr., will discuss his work as a medical doctor and as the author of “The Price of Freedom, A Son’s Journey,” his book detailing his life as an abandoned child. During a 4 p.m. reception in the Sidney Silverman Library, and in partnership with the Society of African Missions, a Catholic missionary community, the “Encoded Messages: Reading African Art” exhibition of textiles and sculptures will open. The display will remain in the library for the duration of the month.

*Thursday, Feb. 5: The Rev. M. Frances Manning-Fontaine, the senior pastor of Hackensack’s New Hope Baptist Church, will discuss the role of women in the church at 6 p.m. in the Moses Family Meeting & Training Center (TEC 128). She stands as the first black woman called to a major pulpit in the state’s American Baptist Church denomination.

*Thursday, Feb. 12: Activist Kevin Powell, one of the nation’s most respected voices on hip-hop and other topics, will speak at 6:30 p.m. in the Moses Family Meeting & Training Center (TEC 128). His remarks will draw from his book “Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan and the Ghost of Dr. King: Blogs and Essays.”

*Wednesday, Feb. 18: A day-long series of events related to hip-hop culture will include a 9:30 a.m. panel discussion in the student center featuring hip-hop historians, police officers and students on how the subject has impacted suburbia; hip-hop pioneer DJ Kool Herc deejaying an 11:30 a.m. gathering in the student center; a conversation with Ernest Morell, Ph.D., the president of the National Council of English Teachers at 12:30 p.m. in room C-211; and remarks by John Potash, author of “The FBI War on Tupac Shakur and Black Leaders” and Shakur Drake, a student, at 2 p.m. in the Moses Family Meeting & Training Center (TEC 128).

*Wednesday, Feb. 25: Bergen professor Lou Ethel Roliston, Ph.D., will lead a discussion on the life of acclaimed poet Maya Angelou, who passed away last year, at 11 a.m. in room C-325. Then, during a 7 p.m. reception and 8 p.m. address in the Moses Family Meeting & Training Center (TEC 128), Schomburg Center Director Muhammad will highlight triumphs and challenges of blacks in the U.S. during the past century.

Among other events, the College will host a performance by the Dance Theatre of Harlem, a business summit, film discussions, a comedy night and a banquet honoring black student scholars. For more information on Bergen’s Black History Month events, contact Ronald E. McKnight at [email protected] or (201) 879-1695.

Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu) based in Paramus is a public two-year coeducational college, enrolling nearly 16,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip J. Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields.

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