February 2012 News Update

Where do we go from here?

[Editor's note: In honor of Black History Month, the space for the monthly message from Dean John W. Roberts is occupied in this issue by an essay written by College faculty member Cedric Tolliver, assistant professor in the Department of English.]

I remember my elementary school classroom being brought to the library to watch "The Boy King," a TV drama about young Martin Luther King, Jr. This was most likely in the years between the enacting of the federal holiday to celebrate MLK day and its observance in my home state.

The drama's simple narrative of a young King encountering racism as a child and being moved to fight against segregation was well crafted for its young audience. It is also, however, a narrative that makes racism a question of personal attitudes and ignores the complex structural problems that intersect with racism to limit the potential of many people today.

After helping to secure the legislative gains in the form of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, King increasingly turned his attention to those fundamental structural problems of housing, education, and health care that continue to plague American society now more than forty years after his assassination.

About three years ago, I was flipping through the channels on French television and came across a documentary on King and the Civil Rights Movement. Amidst the usual footage of civil rights marches and speeches, the video included footage from one of his speeches that struck me as decidedly different from the image of King presented to American audiences. In that speech, King states that the problems of poverty and unemployment in urban areas cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power.

Today, as the problems commonly associated with the inner-city have become more generalized throughout society, perhaps a space has been opened for us to contemplate the musings of a more mature King. No matter what one makes of the goals and aims of the Occupy Wall Street protests that erupted this past fall, they were undeniably successful in turning attention to the most important fact of the last thirty years of American life, the enormous growth in income inequality.

As we consider King's legacy, it seems to me that there is no more urgent question before us than deciding whether "Where do we go from here" is the path towards greater inequality or towards a system that serves the needs and interests of more than a privileged few.

Dr. Tolliver's essay was originally published by the Daily Cougar in honor of the 2012 celebration of the national holiday honoring the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.

 

Throughout the month:

African American Studies Program Black History Month events: All events, except the Urban Souls dance concert, are free and open to the public. For more information, please call 713-743-2811.

• Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. in Room 628, Agnes Arnold Hall
  Thursday, February 2: Dr. Pamela Reed on the dissertation research process
  Thursday, February 16: Dr. Ronald Jackson on Black masculinity
  Tuesday, February 28: Dr. Melanie Bratcher on “Sound Motion, Blues Spirit and African Memory”

• Africana Film Fest: Fridays at noon in Room 628, Agnes Arnold Hall
  February 3: The River Niger
  February 10: A Raisin in the Sun
  February 17: Black History: Lost Stolen, or Strayed
  February 24: Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind (11:30am-1pm)

• Performances:
  Tuesday, February 7: Umar Bin Hassan, Poetry Workshop
  Location: Rom 628, Agnes Arnold Hall

  Saturday, February 11: Urban Souls Dance Company, “Old Wounds: New Blood”
  8 – 10 p.m.
  Location: Cullen Performance Hall, 4800 Calhoun Rd, Houston, 77004. Entrance 1.
  Price: $25 students, $20 seniors; Group rates for 10 or more are available.
  Contact:  832-687-3928 or www.urbansouls.org

FEBRUARY 5 - 11

• Communograph Sidewalk Talk: "Compositions of Comparisons and Contrasts" with key speakers Malcolm Sumisu (New York), Robert Hodge (Texas), Hamdiya Ali (California), Journey Allen (Louisiana), Ifeanyi Okoro II (Texas)
  Thursday, February 9; 6 – 8 p.m.
  Location: Project Row Houses, 2500 Holman, Houston, 77004
  Price: Free
  Contact: 713-743-5749 or 713-526-7662

• Gulf Coast Reading Series: Sam Amadon, Liz Countryman and Thea Lim
  Friday, February 10; 7 p.m.
  Location: Brazos Bookstore, 2421 Bissonnet, Houston, 77005
  Price: Free
  Contact: 713-743-3223

FEBRUARY 12 - 18

• Book Discussion and Signing: “The Silence of Our Friends,” a graphic novel by Mark Long and Jim Demonakos inspired by the 1960s activism of Texas Southern University students and the Houston Police Department response
  Wednesday, February 15; 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
  Location: University Museum at Texas Southern University, 3100 Cleburne, Houston, 77004
  Price: Free
  Contact: 713-313-7145 or 713-313-7120

• Percussion Ensembles: works by Jalbert, Gauger, Burritt, Whitacre
  Monday, February 13; 7:30 pm
  Location: Moores Opera House, 3271 Cullen Boulevard Houston, TX 77004 - Entrance 16
  Price: $10 general admission; $5 for students, seniors, staff and alumni
  Contact: 713-743-3313

• Poetry & Prose featuring creative writing professors Antonya Nelson and Robert Boswell
  Wednesday, February 15; 5:30 – 7 p.m.
  Location: Honors College Commons, MD Anderson Library
  Price: Free
  Contact: 713-743-1050

• Recital featuring Dan Gelok (saxophone) and Wenli Zhou (guest piano)
  Wednesday, February 15, 7:30 pm
  Location: Dudley Recital Hall
  Price: Free
  Contact: 712-743-3313

• Lecture: “Puccini near the End: His Late Life and Works” by Andrew Davis, associate professor of music theory
  Thursday, February 16; 7 p.m.
  Location: Italian Cultural & Community Center, 1101 Milford, Houston, 77006
  Price: Free
  Contact: 713-524-4222 or events@icchouston.com

• Women’s Chorus Concert fundraiser for the Moores School of Music
  Thursday, February 16; 8 pm
  Justin Smith, director
  Location: McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk
  Price: $15
  Contact: 713-528-5999, www.mcgonigels.com

• Piano Concert by Rexa Han, 2011 National Chopin Competition Winner
  Friday, February 17; 7:30 pm
  Works by Chopin, J.S. Bach, Scarlatti, Clementi
  Location: Moores Opera House, 3271 Cullen Boulevard Houston, TX 77004 - Entrance 16
  Price: $10 general admission; $5 for students, seniors, staff and alumni

• Freedom Songs Concert: “Ain’t Nobody Gonna Turn Me Around” presented by Texas Southern University Concert Choir
  Saturday, February 18; 2 – 5 p.m.
  Location: University Museum at Texas Southern University, 3100 Cleburne, Houston, 77004
  Price: Free
  Contact: 713-313-7145 or 713-313-7120

FEBRUARY 19 - 25

• Communograph Sidewalk Talk: "What’s Going On with the Educational Opportunities for Our Children?” led by Hamdiya Ali
  Thursday, February 23; 6 – 8 p.m.
  Location: Project Row Houses, 2500 Holman, Houston, 77004
  Price: Free
  Contact: 713-743-5749 or 713-526-7662

• Go Texan Day
  Friday, February 24

• First Public Official of the Year Award Luncheon hosted by the Master of Public Administration Program with keynote speaker David J. Firestein.
  Friday, February 24; 11:30 a.m.
  Location: Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion, M.D. Anderson Library, Central Campus
  Price: Luncheon sponsored by Peter Brown, director of Better Houston
  Contact: RSVP by February 10 to Stephanie Russell at 281-910-2094 or smtrevino@uh.edu

• 14th Annual Jazz Festival: featuring Seamus Blake and presented by the Moores School of Music
  Friday – Saturday, February 24 and 25; 7:30 p.m.
  Location: Moores Opera House, 3271 Cullen Boulevard Houston, TX 77004 - Entrance 16
  Price: $15 general admission; $10 students, seniors, staff and alumni per evening
  Contact: 713-743-3313 or music.uh.edu

• Theater: The Crucible by Arthur Miller
  Friday – Saturday, February 24 and 25; 8 p.m. and Sunday, February 26; 2 p.m.
  Location: UH Wortham Theatre, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, Entrance 16 off Cullen Boulevard
  Price: $10 students and seniors, $15 UH faculty and staff, $20 general admission
  Contact: 713-743-2929

FEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 3

• Inprint Brown Reading Series: Rae Armantrout and Christian Wiman
  Monday, February 27; 7:30 p.m.
  Location: Neuhaus Stage of the Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Ave., Houston, 77002
  Price: $5 general admission; free tickets for students and seniors at the door
  Contact: 713-521-2026

• Philanthropy Day at University of Houston, Central Campus
  Tuesday, February 28

• The Amadeus Project: Mozart concertos on a 1795 fortepiano featuring soloist/conductor Timothy Hester, the Amadeus Project Orchestra and members of Ars Lyrica and Cambini Wind Quintet
  Tuesday, February 28; 10 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
  Location: Moores Opera House, 3271 Cullen Boulevard Houston, TX 77004 - Entrance 16
  Price: Free morning performance for children; $15 general admission; $10 students, seniors, staff and alumni per evening
  Contact: 713-743-3313

• 15th Annual Table Talk: fundraising luncheon hosted by the Friends of Women’s Studies
  Wednesday, February 29; 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
  Location: Hilton Americas Hotel in downtown, 1600 Lamar Street, Houston, 77010
  Price: $75 individual ticket or $150 ticket and Friends membership
  Contact: 713-743-3214 or www.friendsofwomen.org

• Theater: The Crucible by Arthur Miller
  Thursday - Saturday, March 1 – 3; 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 5; 2 p.m.
  Location: UH Wortham Theatre, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, Entrance 16 off Cullen Boulevard
  Price: $10 students and seniors, $15 UH faculty and staff, $20 general admission
  Contact: 713-743-2929

• First Friday Poetry Reading: Andre de Korvin presented by Inprint
  Friday, March 2; 8:30 p.m.
  Location: Inprint House, 1520 West Main,  one block south of the Menil Collection, one block east of Mandell, in the Museum District of Houston
  Price: Free
  Contact: Robert Clark, who may be e-mailed at houstonfirstfri@aol.com

• Public Poetry featuring MFA candidate Ryler Dustin
  Saturday, March 3; 2 – 3:30 p.m.
  Location: Park Place Regional Library, 8145 Park Place, Houston, 77017
  Price: Free
  Contact: 832-393-1313

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