Bucks County Community College is celebrating Black History Month with three events in February.
The month kicks off with “Lord, Write My Name: From Slavery to Freedom” on Friday, Feb. 3, at 7:30 p.m. at the Zlock Performing Arts Center, located on the Newtown Campus at 275 Swamp Road. Renowned baritone Keith Spencer is joined by Peter Hilliard on piano as they present a musical tapestry interspersed with narratives, poetry and letters penned by enslaved people and iconic Black figures throughout history.
“The concert shares the significance and influence of the Bible on people who had so little else to hold on to,” said Spencer. “Slaveowners intended to use the Bible to control and coerce. Instead, enslaved people found a hope and freedom of their own that couldn’t be beaten or taken from them. We see the result in the beauty and messaging of these expressive spirituals.”
In this collection of song and word, Spencer, accompanied by Hilliard, performs well-known spirituals such as “Go Down, Moses,” “Walk Together Children,” “Steal Away” and several others reimagined and arranged by Hilliard.
Tickets start at $20 and can be purchased at bucks.edu/tickets.
On Thursday, Feb. 16, at 12:30 p.m., Kevin Antoine presents “The True Size of Africa” at the Library Learning Studio, located on the Newtown Campus, and online. Antoine, the college’s associate vice president of community and government relations and chief diversity officer, says it’s no accident that for more than 400 years, map makers have depicted northern hemisphere continents as much larger than they are, and the African continent as much smaller than it is.
This presentation will be offered in-person and simultaneously online to those who register at bit.ly/TrueMapAfrica. Admission is free.
Then, on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 11 a.m. at the Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks, 1304 Veterans Highway in Bristol, activist and community leader John Jordan presents “The History of Voting Rights in America.” Jordan, vice president of the Bucks County NAACP, takes the audience from the women’s suffrage movement to the Voting Rights Act to recent attacks on the right to vote. Jordan was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the National Voting Rights Commission and received the prestigious Drum Major for Justice Award for his civil rights advocacy work.
Admission is free.
All of these Black History Month events are brought to Bucks County Community College by the Office of Community & Government Relations and DEI Programs. To learn more, visit bucks.edu/diversity or email [email protected].
