Join us as we commemorate the 100th anniversary of Pauli Murray‘s birth with a new play that explores the life and legacy of one of North Carolina’s own.

Celebrate her history; create our future.

To Buy the Sun | An Original Play | March 22, 2011 |  7:00 p.m.
Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History

Free Admission

Sponsored by: The Women’s Center in Chapel Hill and UNC‐Chapel Hill: Department of Sociology; Social and Economic Justice Minor; Department of Women’s Studies; Diversity and Multicultural Affairs; Carolina Women’s Center; Carolina Union Activities Board; Department of African and Afro‐American Studies; Program in Latina/o Studies; Carolina Black Caucus; Institute for African American Research; Southern Historical Collection; LGBTQ Center; Feminist Students United; GLBTSA; Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History; and the Campaign for Historical Accuracy and Truth.

http://sonjahaynesstonectr.unc.edu/about/directions

The Wilmington 10 40th Anniversary Commemoration

Wednesday, February 2, 2011
6:30-9:30pm
Sonja Haynes Stone Center Theatre

Reception to follow

The Wilmington 10 40th Anniversary Commemoration will feature a keynote address by Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. entitled “The Legacy of the Wilmington 10: 40 Years Later.”

Additional comments will be made by author Larry Reni Thomas and Professor Kenneth Janken (Dept. of African and Afro-American Studies). Acknowledgments of the members of the Wilmington 10 will include comments by Willie Earl Vereen and Connie Tindall.

The event will also feature a special vocal performance by Professor Louise Toppin (Music Department).

For more information about the event please visit: http://www.unc.edu/iaar/Wilmington10.htm

For more information about the Wilmington 10 please visit: http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/nchistory/feb2005/index.html
This program is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of the American South, African and Afro-American Studies Department, Institute of African American Research, Chapel Hill NAACP, Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ, and the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History.

David Hamrick

This post comes to us from David Hamrick, a Senior public relations major from Winston-Salem, NC and an Associate for Heelprint Communications.

A recent New York Times article brought to light a stirring and compelling case of dissent in the world today, in a region where few of us regularly turn our attention. The piece, “Documentary Shows Rare Look at Dissent in Myanmar Military” by Seth Mydans, was published January 21^st and can be seen here. The article, while providing a review of the documentary Burma Soldier, also provides useful insight and additional information on the issue at hand.

Traditionally known for its cohesiveness and operation as a unified front, the military of the nation formerly known as Burma is the subject of the newly-released documentary. The film is centered around Myo Mynit, who served as a soldier before leaving to join the ranks of the democratic opposition led by Aung Sun Suu Kyi. Mynit lost an arm and a leg during his time serving in the military ranks, and also served a 15-year prison sentence after his connections to the opposition movement were discovered.

Mynit tells about his experience in the Myanmar army, from his personal discomfort with torture and murder to the conflicts among low-ranking soldiers of different background and status. In a candid monologue occasionally leading to tears, a former member of the rank-and-file military that puts on a united front to the outside world is able to put a crack in their perceived image and shed light on some of their more horrifying practices.

The story told is a refreshing reminder that voices of dissent are still speaking out every day, even if they are not always heard immediately. There are still many sources of oppression in today’s world, and sometimes the only way they can be brought to attention is by the words or actions of a brave dissenter. Myo Mynit, along with Suu Kyi and the democratic movement they represent, are a refreshing and inspiring example in today’s world of the change people can bring with courage and determination.

Enjoy popcorn and the screening of Budrus, an award-winning feature documentary film about a Palestinian community organizer who unites Palestinians from all political factions and Israelis to save his village from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier.

Screening followed by a discussion with Nadav Greenberg of Just Vision, the non-profit organization made up of Israelis, Palestinians and North Americans that produced Budrus and other multimedia and educational tools to raise awareness about Palestinian and Israeli civilians working nonviolently to end the occupation and resolve the conflict.

For more information about this event please visit: http://www.global.unc.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1856&Itemid=118

Monday, 24 January 2011
5:00 – 7:00 pm
UNC Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Incubator Room

Reception to follow

While women as a whole have made gains in academia in recent decades, women faculty still face inequality in their attempts to attain promotion and tenure and reach full professorship. Academic women face increasing challenges presented by a changing academic landscape regarding tenure and promotion and the demands of balancing work and family life. This roundtable with UNC women from different generations will discuss the experiences of women in the academy in general and at UNC in particular and explore how women’s place in the academy has changed over the last fifty years.

Invited participants include:

Prof. Michele Tracy Berger – UNC Chapel Hill, Department of Women’s Studies, Associate Professor

Jennifer Donnally M.A. – UNC Chapel Hill, History Department, Graduate Student

Prof. emeritus Gillian T. Cell – UNC Chapel Hill, History Department, first full-time affirmative action officer in 1983, retired Provost and Professor of History Emerita, College of William & Mary, and Chair

Prof. Jacquelyn Hall – UNC Chapel Hill, History Department, Julia Cherry Spruill Professor and Director of the Southern Oral History Program

Prof. emeritus Barbara Harris – UNC Chapel Hill, History Department, Professor and Director of the UNC Curriculum for Women’s Studies from 1993 to 2007

Prof. Milada Vachudova – UNC Chapel Hill, Department of Political Sciences, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for European Studies

The conversation will be moderated by Prof. Karen Hagemann, UNC Chapel Hill, History Department, since 2005 James G. Kenan Distinguished Professor of History, Co-founder and Co-director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Women and Gender at the TU Berlin in 1995.

For more information please visit: http://www.unc.edu/gpc/

As part of UNC’s Martin Luther King, Jr. programming, the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History will be hosting its annual celebration of King’s life and work, “He Was a Poem, He Was a Song” this coming Monday, January 17, at 7:00 pm.

The free event will feature poetry, jazz performances, and spoken word commemorating Dr. King’s legacy including a poetry performance by Kane Smego of the Sacrificial Poets and jazz performances by Ron Baxter and Joy Harrell.

For more information visit: http://sonjahaynesstonectr.unc.edu/programs/events/2011-mlk-program

Learn more about the celebration by visiting the event’s Facebook page. A full events listing is available online via the UNC Diversity and Multicultural Affairs homepage.

The Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration is sponsored by UNC Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, and the Campus Y.

Publishing the Long Civil Rights Movement seeks to inspire scholarly collaboration and develop new ways of creating and sharing scholarship on the civil rights movement.

Read the post here: https://lcrm.lib.unc.edu/blog/index.php/2010/12/15/mike-wileys-parchman-hour/#more-2379

Aung San Suu Kyi has devoted her life to her people’s freedom, placing it above all else – even above her family. She has not given up voicing her dissent even in the face of punishment. Her passion is a model the rest of the world should follow.

To hear this voice for yourself, watch this YouTube video.

She is an inspiration.

Ann Orsini
Junior, School of Journalism and Mass Communication