Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2007-01-31

Samford University will host a variety of programs during February in observance of Black History Month.

At an event co-sponsored by the Black Law Students Association at Samford's Cumberland School of Law, Congressman Artur Davis will present the annual Thurgood Marshall Symposium lecture Thursday, Feb. 22.

The symposium is part of a program co-sponsored by Cumberland's Center for Biotechnology, Law and Ethics that will focus on "The U.S Health-Care System: Access Equity and Efficiency."

Congressman Davis' 11 a.m. talk in the moot courtroom of Robinson law building is free and open to the public.

Many of Samford's February programs are presented as part of the student convocation series that meets twice-weekly at 10 a.m. in Reid Chapel. The public is invited. The upcoming schedule includes:

Feb. 6---The Samford Gospel Choir will perform and Samford religion major Tyran Laws will speak during a black history program. Laws, a senior from Bakersfield, Calif., is president of Samford's Black Heritage Association.

Feb. 8---Samford graduate Dr. Eric Motley of Washington, D.C., will speak. Motley, managing director, Henry Crown Fellowship Program, The Aspen Institute, is a former staff member of the George Bush White House and the U.S. State Department. As a Samford student in the 1990s, the Montgomery native was the school's first black student body president.

Feb. 13---Samford history professor Dr. Jonathan Bass will lecture on Letter from Birmingham Jail. Bass is the author the book, Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Martin Luther King, Jr., Eight White Religious Leaders and the Letter from Birmingham Jail.' 

Feb. 15---Video presentation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

Feb. 20---Dru Harris Ealons, development director, Pathways, and board of directors chair, Leading Edge Institute, will speak on race relations.

Feb. 22---Samford graduate Robbie Steele Martin, a local attorney, will speak on diversity.

Feb. 27---Rev. Quinton Hammonds, pastor, Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Pratt City, will speak.

Other events include a Feb. 22 "Soul Sessions" time of feast, fellowship and worship sponsored by Samford's International Club and Black Heritage Association. The 7 p.m. event will be in Harry's coffeehouse in Beeson University Center.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.