Fresno State President John D. Welty was honored Saturday for his nearly 22 years of service at the Black History Month “Trailblazers Banquet” at the African American Historical and Cultural Museum of the San Joaquin Valley.

Welty will kick off the campus observance of African People’s History Month with an opening ceremony, 12-1 p.m. Monday, Feb. 4, at the Free Speech Area Platform and the Peace Garden on campus.

The University will host several events throughout the month of February celebrating the contributions of African-Americans, including:

  •  Feb. 7 – A panel, “Obama Revisited: Examinig the Obama Presidency,” 6:30 p.m. in the Alice Peters Auditorium located in the Peters Business Building presented by Africana Studies, 559.278.2832.
  • Author Leandra Zarnow will discuss her book, “Bella Abzug and the Unmaking of the American Left,” 3:30-5 p.m. Feb. 12 in Engineering East, Room 191. The event is co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program  in the History Department, the Jewish Federation of Central California and Africana Studies.Her discussion, “The Making of a People’s Politician: Jewish Congresswoman Bella Abzug’s First Career as an Early Civil Rights Lawyer,” will address Abzug’s most remarkable cases, from the Willie McGee trial and the Peekskill personal injury lawsuit to her ethical framework as a conservative Jew and her commitment to human and civil rights.Zarnow is a professor in the Department of History at Stanford University who is an American Council of Learned Societies New Faculty Fellow. Her political biography on Abzug will be published by Harvard University Press. For more information on the Zarnow event, contact Dr. Jill Fields at 559.278.2153.
  • At 5 p.m. Feb. 15, Fresno State’s CineCulture program will screen “Remember the Titans,” at the Leon S. and Pete P. Peters Educational Center in the Student Recreation Center. A post-screening discussion, “Becoming a Titan,” will be led by Herman Boone, former American high school football coach portrayed by Denzel Washington in the film.The event is co-sponsored by the Martin Luther King/Grunnar Mrydal Scholars Committee and the African People’s History Committee. For more information, contact Dr. Mary Husain at 559.278.5702 or mhusain@csufresno.edu.
  • Feb. 21 – Spring Mixer, 6-8 p.m. in the University Dining Hall
  • Feb. 22 – Africana Culture Night, 7-9 p.m. in the Satellite Student Union
  • Feb. 28 – Rosa Parks Awards Recognition Ceremony, 5:30 p.m. at the Smittcamp Alumni House.

For more information about the African People’s History Month event schedule contact the Central Valley Cultural Heritage Institute at 559.278.6946.

 (Copy prepared by University Communications news student assistant Alejandra Garcia.)

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