Kent State University at Trumbull will celebrate Black History Month with a series of events that will educate members of the university community. The celebration will feature a variety of speakers discussing a range of topics, issues and personalities.

Listed below are events planned for the month-long celebration:

Frederick and Harriet Loudin: A 19th-Century, African-American Power Couple
Thursday, Feb. 14, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., Lower Commons of the Classroom/Administration Building

Ravenna native Frederick Loudin (1836-1904) was recruited into the already famous Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1874, “quickly [becoming] one of the . . . most important soloists. Throughout his career, Loudin used the jubilee platform to make public statements on the issue of civil rights. He was, in retrospect, the most politically outspoken black entertainer of the nineteenth century. . .” Loudin became director of the Singers, taking them on a 60-year world tour. Christina McVay, associate lecturer with Kent State’s Department of Pan-African Studies, is working on the 1878 diary of Loudin’s wife Harriet, as well as several of their letters from the world tour. McVay has been researching this couple, both of whom were outspoken advocates of racial equality, since 1999. The Loudins attended the first Pan-African Conference in 1900 in London, and on various occasions worked with the likes of Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells and W.E.B. DuBois.

Mercer Cook and Léopold Sédar Senghor: Two Major Pan-African Diplomats and Literarians
Tuesday, Feb. 19, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., Lower Commons of the Classroom/Administration Building

Babacar M’Baye, Ph.D., associate professor at Kent State, will give a lecture about the relationships between two major black leaders and intellectuals of the 20th century. Mercer Cook was an African-American ambassador of the United States to the Gambia, Sénégal, and Niger in the mid-1960s. Senghor was the first president of the Republic of Sénégal and a co-founder of the Négritude Movement (an offspring of the Harlem Renaissance Movement).

A Blood Drive — How is that linked to Black History Month?
Tuesday, Feb. 19, and Wednesday, Feb. 20, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Did you know…that 98 percent of patients with sickle cell disease are African-American? Did you know……. that an African-American physician, Dr. Charles Drew, is recognized as a leading authority on blood collection and plasma processing. LifeShare will be coordinating these blood drives in the Classroom/Administration Building at Kent State University at Trumbull. DONATE NOW. SAVE A LIFE.

Martin Luther King Jr.: The Revolutionary
Monday, Feb. 25, 6 to 7 p.m., Lower Commons of the Classroom/Administration Building

George Garrison, Ph.D., is a tenured professor at Kent State, and he will lecture on Martin Luther King Jr. Most Americans are familiar with Martin Luther King Jr., the reformer. Most in this country are oblivious to the fact that he lived another five years after the “I Have a Dream” speech, and his ideas, convictions, goals and philosophy evolved into those expressed in 1967 in the “Time to Break the Silence” speech which he gave in New York at Riverside Baptist Church. In the years leading up to his death, King was revolutionary in his perspective, and this development in his thoughts and actions will be discussed in this lecture.

Explore the Library at Kent State Trumbull
Resources will be available throughout the whole month of February

Stop by the Kent State Trumbull Library located in the Library/Theatre Building to view resources and information connected to Black History Month and topics that speakers will be discussing.