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Media Relations

Herald-Times articles

Feb. 1, 2006

James Earl Jones a highlight of Black History Month; Events start Thursday in Bloomington
By Steve Hinnefeld
February 1, 2006

A lecture by actor James Earl Jones will highlight this month's celebration of Black History Month at Indiana University, IU officials announced Tuesday.

Jones, a stage and screen star - and the voice of Darth Vader in the "Star Wars" movies - will speak at 7 p.m. Feb. 21 at the IU Auditorium.

Campus Black History Month events also include:

• A lecture by Beverly Moran, professor of law and sociology at Vanderbilt University, at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 16 in Alumni Hall of the Indiana Memorial Union.

• The fourth annual Africana Festival, a celebration of art, music, dancing and food, Feb. 23 at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.

The Union Board will sponsor Jones' appearance, which will include an hour-long lecture followed by a 30-minute question-and-answer session.

Jones emerged as part of a new generation of black actors with his 1961 role in Jean Genet's play "The Blacks." He made his film debut in "Dr. Strangelove" in 1963 and has appeared in more than 50 films, including "The Great White Hope," "Field of Dreams" and "The Hunt for Red October."

After the lecture, he is expected to sign copies of his autobiography, "Voices and Silences."

Moran, known for her research on the racial and social implications of federal tax policy, will speak on "Changes in the View of Race in America in the Last 60 Years." She will meet with IU students at the Neal-Marshall center the day after her lecture.

The Africana Festival, first celebrated at IU in February 2003, includes a student discussion, lecture, drumming workshop and vendors during the day and a soul food dinner and entertainment at night.

Black History Month

• Thursday: Sound the Drum & Family Fest, 7-9 p.m., Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.

• Saturday: Nubian Odyssey: A Journey in Dance from Africa to America, 5 p.m., IU Willkie Auditorium.

• Sunday: Crowns Day - A Celebration of Women and their Hats, 2-4 p.m., Monroe County Public Library.

• Monday: School of Education African-American Read-In, 10-11:15 a.m., Grand Hall, Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.

• Feb. 9: Black Knowledge Bowl, 7:30-10 p.m., Grand Hall, Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.

• Feb. 11: Bloomington's Firsts, a Tribute to Bloomington's African-American Pioneers (Part 1), 6-8 p.m., Banneker Community Center.

• "Quiet Strength," life-skills program based on Rosa Parks, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Ivy Tech Community College.

• Feb. 16: Lecture by Beverly Moran, professor of sociology and law at Vanderbilt University, 4:30 p.m., IMU Alumni Hall.

• Feb. 18: Bloomington's Firsts, a Tribute to Bloomington's African-American Pioneers (Part 2), 6-8 p.m., Banneker Community Center.

• Feb. 21: James Earl Jones lecture, 7 p.m., IU Auditorium.

• Feb. 22: All Things History, African-American history from the Indiana Historical Society, 4 p.m., Monroe County Public Library.

• Feb. 23: Africana Festival, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and 5:30-8 p.m., Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.

• Feb. 23-25: African-American Dance Company workshop and showcase, Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center and Willkie Auditorium.

• Feb. 25: Black History Month Gala, 7-11 p.m., Mayfield's Ballroom, 2100 Liberty Drive.

• Feb. 26: Extensions of the Tradition, IU African-American Arts Institute concert, 4 p.m., IU Auer Hall.

Coretta Scott King remembered as queen of civil rights movement; Wife of Martin Luther King Jr. worked to realize her late husband's dream
By Steve Hinnefeld
February 1, 2006

Coretta Scott King was remembered in Bloomington as a symbol of the civil rights movement and an effective advocate for her husband's legacy.

King, 78, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., died Tuesday in Mexico.

"It is a tremendous loss," said Valerie Grim, chairwoman of the IU department of African-American and African diaspora studies. "I will miss her wisdom and her experience, her knowledge."

She said King was "one of those pillars of faith" whose struggle for justice inspired black people for decades. With her death, and the deaths in the past year of civil-rights icon Rosa Parks and actor-activist Ossie Davis, she said, "It's like an institution is slowly fading."

Coretta Scott grew up poor in rural Alabama, studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and married Martin Luther King Jr. in 1953. After he was killed, she led the effort to make his birthday a national holiday and founded the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta.

A.B. Assensoh, an IU professor of African-American and African diaspora studies, recalled meeting her in 1984, when he was doing research on the civil rights movement while a postdoctoral fellow in England. He said she was "an indomitable queen of the modern civil rights movement" and "an indefatigable worker" for her husband's cause.

Assensoh later worked as research director for the King Papers Project at Stanford University, a job that included working with Coretta King on selecting materials from family records.

"Watching her from close quarters," he said, "I could also describe Mrs. King as a woman of integrity and a true advocate of the nonviolent philosophy that her husband espoused."

Grim was a small child in rural Mississippi when Martin Luther King Jr. was shot to death in April 1968. She said she remembers vividly how the women in her family and community admired King's widow and sympathized with her for being left alone with four young children.

"I remember people talking about her strength, the dignity with which she arranged the funeral, how she carried herself at the funeral," she said. "For women in rural communities across the South, I think it was an indication that black women had to be strong."

She said King's death made her think of a figure of speech from her childhood: "It's late in the evening," meaning an era is ending.

"With the passing of Rosa Parks, Ossie Davis, Coretta Scott King - all these people who were intimately involved in the movement - it has become late in the evening for black people and oppressed people all over the world," she said. "And we must take up the mantle and continue the struggle."

IU students rally against cut in student-loan money; House is expected to vote today on budget reconciliation bill
By Steve Hinnefeld
February 1, 2006

Indiana University students took part in a last-ditch effort Tuesday to block congressional approval of budget legislation that would cut federal student-loan spending by $12.7 billion.

"It affects a majority of students on this campus," said Mike Weinberger, a junior from Cincinnati and a leader of IU's "Stop the Raid on Student Aid" initiative.

Weinberger and other students involved with the Indiana Public Interest Research Group staffed a table in front of Ballantine Hall, urging students to call their congressional representatives and protest the loan cuts. Students stopped on their way to and from class to call on their cell phones, joining a nationwide effort by the Student Public Interest Research Groups.

The House was expected to vote today on the budget reconciliation bill, aimed at curbing federal spending. It approved the legislation in December by a vote of 216-214. The Senate then approved it, 51-50, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote. But a minor change made by the Senate sent the measure back to the House.

According to an analysis by the liberal Campaign for America's Future, the legislation will increase the cost of college for a typical student in Indiana by $1,763.

The bill's supporters dispute that claim. They say it doesn't cut spending but just reduces the growth of mandatory spending programs such as student loans, Medicare and Medicaid.

With regard to federally subsidized student loans, it would eliminate variable-rate loans for students and increase the interest rate for parent loans. It would bar students from consolidating loans while still in school, increase borrowing limits and change loan fees.

On the positive side for students, the bill would fund grants for needy math, science and foreign-language majors and reduce some loan-origination fees.

Former Anthem official speaking at IU today
A former chairman and chief executive officer of Anthem Inc. will be at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business at 10 a.m. today as distinguished entrepreneur-in-residence.

L. Ben Lytle is chairman and CEO of AXIA Health Management LLC. He retired as CEO of Anthem, the Indianapolis-based health insurer, in 1999 but remained board chairman until May 2003.

Lytle will speak about "Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurial Start-Ups in the Health-Care Industry, a Personal Perspective," in Room 1040 of the Godfrey Graduate and Executive Education Center.

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