For immediate useNov. 5, 1997 -- No. 822

Activist and scholar Angela Davis to deliver 4th annual Sonja Haynes Stone Memorial Lecture

By ANGE-MARIE HANCOCK

Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural Center

CHAPEL HILL -- Increased student activism, prison reform and women's rights represent a few of the topics scholar and political activist Angela Davis is expected to address when she delivers the fourth annual Sonja Haynes Stone Memorial Lecture Nov. 17 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The 8 p.m. lecture in Memorial Hall will be free and open to the public. Audience members may ask Davis questions after the talk.

Davis holds the presidential chair in African-American and feminist studies on the faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She became known in the late `60s and `70s, after then-Gov. Ronald Reagan of California instigated her dismissal from the University of California, Los Angeles, for her activism and political beliefs. A representative of the case for academic freedom, she has continued to successfully blend political activism with scholarly work.

Each year, UNC-CH's Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural Center pays tribute to the legacy of its namesake by inviting a black woman whose commitment to the community mirrors that of the late Dr. Stone. Previous lectures have featured Dr. Frances Cress-Welsing, author of “The Isis Papers”; cultural critic Bell Hooks and Rep. Eva Clayton (D-N.C.).

Stone directed the UNC-CH African and Afro-American Studies Curriculum from 1974 to 1979 and remained affiliated as an associate professor until her death in 1991. She served on the Black Cultural Center planning committee and dedicated her life to educating the campus community about needs for the center and improved race relations on campus and in the community.

Davis' community activism reflects her political convictions. She is a member of the board of directors for the National Black Women's Health Project, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Oppression, the editorial board of The Black Scholar (a national academic journal), and the African American Women Philosophers and Radical Philosophy associations. Her current research interests extend to prison reform and its impact on black women.

Two new books by Davis will be released next year: “The Angela Davis Reader” and “Blues Legacies and Black Feminisms: Gertrude `Ma' Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holliday.”

Davis has written four other books: “Women, Culture and Politics” (1989), “Women, Race and Class” (1981), “Angela Davis: An Autobiography” (1974) and “If They Come in the Morning: Voices of Resistance” (1971). Davis also writes numerous articles for mainstream and scholarly audiences.

The Sonja Haynes Stone Memorial Lecture program also will feature Harmonyx, the a cappella vocal group of the Black Student Movement, and reflections on Stone's life and legacy.

The program will be cosponsored by the African/Afro-American Studies Department, the Theta Pi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., the Black Student Movement, the University Program in Cultural Studies, the Institute of African American Research and the women's studies curriculum.

Operating since 1988, the Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural Center offers academic programs and activities for all students. It seeks to bridge gaps in understanding among diverse groups at Carolina via scholarly investigations of black heritage. The center serves North Carolina by fostering appreciation of African and black culture by producing programs that include lectures and performing arts.

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Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural Center Contact: Ange-Marie Hancock, 919-962-9001

News Services contact: Laura J. Toler