"Black Men For Change" Hosts Symposium
WINSTON-SALEM, NC --- Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, a noted author and Columbia University professor, will keynote the 7th Annual Black Male Symposium at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) on Thursday, February 17, at 6 p.m. in Dillard Auditorium in the Anderson Center.
There will also be a morning panel presentation at 10 a.m. in Dillard Auditorium that will include Damon Scott, director of food services at WSSU, Chris Fleming, community service chair of Black Men for Change, Michael Isler, professional registered nurse, and Kerry Harbor, certified strength and conditioning specialist.
Sponsored by the student group, Black Men for Change, The Black Male Symposium examines issues related to black male upward mobility and progress to uplift black males, prepare them to be leaders, and see them through the graduation process. In past years, featured speakers have included Kevin Powell, Dr. Na’im Akbar, Spike Lee, Rev. Floyd Flake and Jim Ellis.
Hill is one of the leading hip-hop generation intellectuals in the country. His work, which covers topics such as hip-hop culture, politics, sexuality, education and religion, has appeared in numerous journals, magazines, books, and anthologies. Dr. Hill has lectured widely and provides regular commentary for media outlets such as NPR, Washington Post, Essence Magazine and The New York Times. He is currently a political contributor for Fox News Channel, where he appears regularly on programs such as The O’Reilly Factor, Huckabee, and Hannity. Prior to joining Fox News, Hill was a regular guest on CNN, MSNBC and CourtTV. A nationally syndicated columnist, his writing appears weekly in Metro Newspapers.
In fall 2009, he joined the faculty of Columbia University as associate professor of education at Teachers College. He also holds an affiliated faculty appointment in African American Studies at the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University.
Since his days as a youth in Philadelphia, Hill has been a social justice activist and organizer. He is a founding board member of My5th, a non-profit organization devoted to educating youth about their legal rights and responsibilities. Hill also works closely with the ACLU Drug Reform Project, focusing on drug informant policy. In addition to his political work, Hill continues to work directly with African American and Latino youth. In 2001, he started a literacy project that uses hip-hop culture to increase school engagement and reading skills among high school students. He also continues to organize and teach adult literacy courses for high school dropouts in Philadelphia and Camden.
WSSU’s Black Men for Change is a student organization founded in 2003 to help empower African-American males to rise above negative stereotypes and become productive assets to their community. It works to address the obstacles facing underrepresented male groups by providing access to greater social and cultural opportunities by way of networking and activism within our campus and broader community. The organization is also involved with numerous community groups and members have volunteered with the Winston-Salem Symphony, Piedmont Craftsmen, AIDS Care Service, Forsyth County Department of Public Health P.O.S.S.E initiative, Forsyth County Democratic Party, RiverRun International Film Festival, Piedmont Opera, Walk a Mile in Her Shoes initiative, and the Black Male Summit initiative. They have received special recognition from the Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County for their contribution to the arts community, the ECHO award from the Winston-Salem Foundation in May of 2010 for building social capital throughout the community, and the 2007 Winston-Salem State University Student Organization of the Year.
