The Rev. Charles Rice Speaker Series: A Living Legacy of AAAS Events
“New Developments in Africana Studies” was the first event presented by the AAAS Program in collaboration with the Modern Languages Department. The flyer you see here was a preliminary flyer created by Dr. Keita’s son and was later renamed “Trends in Africana Studies” before the event took place. Dr. Babacar M’Baye, a professor of Pan-African Studies and English Department at Kent university, was also an Ursinus alum who remained close with retired French professor Dr. Novack. Mrs. Patton from Multicultural Services graciously allowed the event to be held in Unity House on November 29, 2012. Unity House has since been demolished to create space for the Ursinus Commons and is now known as the Institute for Inclusion and Equity in the lower lever of the Wismer Center.
“Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice” was a film screening presented by the African American Africana Studies on March 13, 2012, in Pfahler Auditorium. This was a transitional time for the program as the most recent coordinator of the program, Dr. Walter Greason, recently left and Dr. Nzadi Keita assumed the role. The film focused on Ida B. Wells, a female investigative journalist who documented and exposed the horrors of lynching in the south in the 1890s and was one of the founders of the NAACP. Following the film, a discussion of Well's extensive activism including women’s rights and suffrage was held. This was one of the first events held by the program.
On April 22, 2013, Ursinus students, faculty and friends came together to discuss one question: “what is Africa to me?” Light refreshments were served as the dialogue invited those in attendance to join featured guest Will Godfrey ’13, Liora Mor ’13 Royale Randolph, Yousif Yahya ’14 and Codey Young ’14 in conversation. Students were instrumental in the creation of this event as this was prior to the arrival of Dr. Edward Onaci and Dr. Patricia Lott. This event was open to anyone at the college and held in the Bear’s Den.
Since the AAAS program was without a budget until 2015, “Dragging the Black Church” was one of the first events hosted by the AAAS program to receive funding from the Arts and Lectures Committee. This allowed for AAAS to invite guest lecturer Rachel Daniel ’06 to lecture on the use of drag in media. The event consists of two parts: A talk on Tuesday, October 22 in Pfahler Auditorium and an open lunch discussion in Unity House on Wednesday, October 23, 2013. Utilizing drag as a tool, Daniel asserts that Tyler Perry, Steve Harvey, and Rickey Smiley have used the art form to make claims about race, gender, class, and theology as they perform Black Women. Daniel was a doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst in American Studies at the time. This program was created in collaboration with Multicultural Services, now known as the Institute for Inclusion and Equity, and the Chaplain’s office.
Dr. Eve Dunbar is an Associate Professor of English at Vassar College. She was the AAAS Guest lecturer on November 13, 2015, in Pfahler Auditorium. Dr. Dunbar’s talk, “Mice, Chickens, Gorillas… Oh, Maud!” had the audience rethink what it means to be human in Gwendolyn Brooks’ novel Maud Martha. She also teaches courses entitled “The Harlem Renaissance and its Precursors”, “Gender, Social Problems, and Social Change”, and “Storytelling and the Black Literacy Archive”. The event was co-sponsored by the Teaching & Learning Institute and was one of the first events to be hosted by the AAAS department after receiving a budget.
The AAAS program hosted the African American & Africana Studies Guest Lecture series starting in 2016. Dr. Michelle Holder ‘03, Heather Johnson ’07, and Donheen Boone ‘14 returned to Ursinus on November 3, 2016, to be part of “Dare to Struggle: Education & U.S. Black Communities-An Alumni Panel”. The panelist represented various career paths as writer/ activist, well director, and school director respectively. Students joined the panelist in Bomberger auditorium to discuss black communities and education at all levels. This event was sponsored by the Arts & Lecture Committee, The Chaplin’s Office and the Anthropology/Sociology Department.
AAAS and Latin American Studies programs invited Mark Palacio to speak Afro-Latinos communities in Nicaragua and Belize on April 19, 2016. While the term Afro-Latin was coined in the late ’70s, it has gained popularity over the years and refers to Latina Americans of primarily African ancestry. Palacio’s talk focused specifically on Garifuna culture; a black community found in both countries. Interwoven with Palacio’s personal stories/experiences, the culture’s history, values, practices, and contemporary issued were touched on in this most enjoyable lecture. This event was held in the Bear’s Den.
The AAAS program encouraged students across campus to attend a lecture by Dr. Ibram X Kendi. Dr. Kendi, an assistant professor of African American history at the University of Florida is of the most well-known speakers the program has invited to speak at Ursinus College. For his most recent book, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, Dr. Kendi was awarded the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction. Students came together in the Bear’s Den on October 20, 2016, to engage in a dialogue/ book signing mediated by the author and Dr. Lott to unpack American ideals concerning race while addressing the paradoxes laced throughout the subject matter and more. This was one of many stops along the Book Tour.
In 2017, The African American and Africana Studies guest Lecture Series was renamed the Rev. Charles Rice Speaker Series. Dr. Nicole Ivy’s lecture, “Circuits of Blood and Stone: On Enslaved Test Subjects and the History of Gynecology” was the first speaker of the newly renamed series and was held in Berman 006 on October 6, 2017. During the event, Dr. Ivy addressed the role of enslaved women in nineteenth-century slave clinics in Montgomery, Alabama. While the legacies of these women are often forgotten, history reveres Dr. James Marion Sims as the “father of modern Gynecology” as tested tools and techniques on nonconsenting patients. Dr. Ivy invites us to remember how the enslaved dead impact contemporary spaces of U.S. capital circulation. This event was hosted by the AAAS program in collaboration with the Institute for Inclusion and Equity and the Anthropology/ Sociology department.
Lori Tharps was a Guest Speaker for the Rev. Charles Rice Speaker Series. Her lecture “Writing Identity in Multiple Worlds” was hosted in The Bears Den on October 25, 2017. During the talk, journalist, novelist, and memoir writer, Lori Tharps spoke on her personal experience with identity and representation. Tharps also addressed her own cultural studies research and writing throughout the event. Partnering with the Institute for Inclusion and Equity, the Anthropology/ Sociology Department Arts & Lectures Committee, and the Creative Writing Fund, this event was part of second in the Reverend Charles Rice Speaker Series.
Dr. Kwame Essien, an Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies at Leigh University visited Ursinus college on February 2, 2018, as part of the Rev. Charles Rice Speaker Series. Dr. Essien’s lecture “Traversing the African Diaspora: Slavery and Brazilian-African Return Migration” provided insight on the untold stories of former Brazilian slaves who settled in Ghana. Under threat from Colonial British officers, both emancipated Brazilian-Africans and their descendants faced mandates that denied them the right to own land. Those in attendance also learned some of the cultures and traditions of the Ga people as they helped reacclimate to their new home.
In collaboration with the History and Music department, the AAAS program helped create the Riding the Wave, Creating the Vibe Series. This three-event series is connected to MUS/HIST-203 The Expense of Musical Appropriation and the Dividends of Collaboration which studies the local musical cultures in Africa, The Caribbean, and the United States and questions the appropriation, adaptation, and commercialization of this music around the globe. “The Wave of the Future: New Directions in Digital Production and Music Scholarship” invited three seniors, Tori Kroha, Jackie Ramsay and Codi Yhap, to share their research in Wismer’s Faculty Staff Dining room October 21, 2019. All of the guest panelists majored in music while also majoring in Business, Politics, and Biology respectively.
“Race and the University: A Roundtable” explored how the concepts of race and racism have molded the American Higher Education system. Dr. Marcia Chatelain from Georgetown University and Ms. Jasmin Howard from Michigan State University joined the panel alongside Dr. Patricia Lott, and Mayor Aidsand Wright-Riggins of Collegeville on October 22, 2019, in Musser Auditorium. Facilitated by Dr. Susanna Throop, chair of the Ursinus College History department, the panelist discussed systemic forms of oppression both past and present in higher education. Examples include slave labor/capital used to construct Ivy League institutions, colleges and universities often being exempt from the discourse on race and class hierarchies, and the Black Campus Movement which fought to undo white supremacy within the higher education system. This event was sponsored by the Arts & Lecture series and organized by the AAAS program, American Studies, English, And History departments.
Dianne Brieze Thompson also known as Badd Kitti was the final speaker in the Riding the Wave, Creating the Vibe series on November 11, 2019, in the Bear’s Den. Thompson’s, known for her soulful, conscious vibe, is a pioneer of Philadelphia’s emerging Funk scene. Thompson provided played a few examples of Funk that inspired her and her art before inviting audience members to participate in creating a small song. As a keyboardist, vocalist, composer, producer, educator, and creator of the podcast The Funk Excursion, Thompson’s contributions to Funk seem endless. This event was made possible through the efforts of the AAAS program, Music and History department.