Black History Month Kick-Off
In celebration of Black History Month, MCISA hosted an event where members of Webster University’s faculty sat down to share their favorite books by African-American authors. Readers included Webster University President Beth Stroble, Thao Dang-Williams, Courntey Turner, Scott Jensen, Dana Jones, Trezette Dixon, Ted Hoef, Larry Baden and Colette Cummings.
_Video by Deja Randle
This was MCISA’s first year participating in the National African American Read-In. The group wanted to get the word out to the many students of Webster to read books by African-American authors. The assistant director of MCISA, Niki Parres, said they where excited about the turn out of the event.
“We were a little worried that, the weather being so nice, people will choose to be outside, but we had a full house…” Parres said.
Dang-Williams, associate dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, was delighted to share a book she came very familiar with during both her undergraduate years and in graduate school. The name of the book is “The Souls of Black Folks” by W.E.B Dubois. In sharing the book with students,she shared Dubois’ views on the line and veil that separated the races.
Who Started This Chain?
Twenty-three years ago, the first National African American Read-In was created under the leadership of its living founder, Dr. Jerrie C. Scott.
“I came up with this idea of the African American Read-In chain, which meant that, because we didn’t have money, which meant everyone to hear about it, other people that would hear about it, would chain the information out,” Scott said.
Her goal is to see the works of African-American in high demand. Scott also hopes the National Read-In encourages and decreases statistics on the number of African-Americans who don’t read.
The National African Read-In has more than 750,000 participants a year. The celebration of this literacy campaign is held all through the month of February. The chain invites schools, churches, libraries and communities to take part and increase the movement.
Join the Chain
To join the National African American Read-In, visit NCTE.org, to learn more about African-American authors.
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