UNC Asheville will celebrate Black History Month throughout February with a host of special events. Among the highlights will be a lecture by Civil Rights leader and MacArthur Fellow Robert P. Moses and a performance by the Kenyan band Jabali Afrika.

The full schedule of events is as follows:

"Sweet Grass Harvest" by Jonathan Green

• The University will host the acclaimed traveling exhibit "Sharing the Chores: Works on Paper by Jonathan Green" through February 28 at UNC Asheville's Blowers Gallery. Hosted by the McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina, "Sharing the Chores: Works on Paper by Jonathan Green" features 11 hand-drawn lithographs and one hand-pulled seriograph by the renowned artist. The images portray the importance of shared work, rituals and tradition in the Gullah community. A reception will be held 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5, in the gallery. YMI Cultural Center Executive Director Harry Harrison will speak at 7 p.m. in the gallery. Blowers Gallery, located on the main floor of UNC Asheville's Ramsey Library, is open during regular library hours. Admission is free. For hours of operation, call UNC Asheville's Ramsey Library at 828/251-6546.

• Noted journalist I. Jabulani Tafari will discuss "Reclaiming a Stolen Legacy" at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at UNC Asheville's Highsmith University Union room 222. Tafari, who is active in the Rastafari movement, organized the first Reggae on the Mountain concert. The talk is free and open to the public.

Chinua Hawk

• Singer/songwriter Chinua Hawk will perform at 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at UNC Asheville's Highsmith University Union Grotto. Hawk, who describes his music as accessible to everyone, has toured around the world and boasts CD sales not only in the United States, but also in France, England, Japan, Switzerland and Canada. He has performed with Celine Dion at Madison Square Garden and written songs with Wyclef Jean. Hawk has also worked in the studio with Kanye West. His latest release, "The Shoe Box Collection," is a compilation of songs he has always loved but never released. Sponsored by Underdog Productions, this event is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Underdog Productions Office at 828/251-6244.

Patrick Rosal will speak

• Poet Patrick Rosal will give a reading at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14, at UNC Asheville's Laurel Forum, Karpen Hall. Rosal is the author of two full-length poetry collections, "Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive," which won the Asian American Writers' Workshop Members' Choice Award and "My American Kundiman." His chapbook "Uncommon Denominators" won the Palanquin Poetry Series Award from the University of South Carolina Aiken. His poems and essays have been published in journals and anthologies including North American Review, Black Renaissance and Beacon Best. Rosal has won an Allen Ginsburg Award, the James Hearst Poetry Prize and the Arts and Letters Prize, among others. Rosal has been named UNC Asheville's 2008 Mills Distinguished Lecturer. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by UNC Asheville's Literature & Language Department, UNC Asheville's Multicultural Affairs Office and Rivendell Literary Magazine.

• Rosal and poet Ross Gay will host a discussion on race and community at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, in Laurel Forum, Karpen Hall. Gay is the author of "Against Which" and his poems have appeared in a number of distinguished journals, including American Poetry Review and Atlanta Review. He is a Philadelphia-based poet whose heritage figures prominently in his work: his father was black and his mother is white. Gay, who holds a doctorate in American literature from Temple University, teaches at Indiana University and in the low-residency program at New England College. The event is free and open to the public.

• UNC Asheville’s Second Annual State of Black Asheville Forum will bring together community members with decision makers to discuss education, employment, law enforcement and mental health. The State of Black Asheville will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, in UNC Asheville’s Highsmith University Union, Mountain Suites. The event is free and open to the public. A box lunch will be provided at no cost. Space is limited and pre-registration is suggested. Click here to register online. For more information or to register in person, call UNC Asheville’s Political Science Department at 828/251-6634 or e-mail mmoore@unca.edu.

• Retired Air Force Sergeant Leonard "Hawk" Hunter, member and past president of the Eagleston Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, will discuss "Achievements and Conquests of the Tuskegee Airmen" at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, at UNC Asheville's Laurel Forum, Karpen Hall. He served 25 years in the Air Force and served in active duty in the Korean and Vietnam wars. He has numerous military medals, including a Presidential Unit Citation, the Vietnam Service Medal with Battle Star and a Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. Hunter now travels across the U.S. giving talks on the Tuskegee Airmen, America's first black military airmen. The event is free and open to the public.

Dr. Melissa Harris-Lacewell

• Melissa Harris-Lacewell, associate professor of politics and African American studies at Princeton University, will speak at noon Thursday, Feb. 21, at UNC Asheville's Humanities Lecture Hall. Harris-Lacewell is the author of the critically acclaimed and award-winning book, "Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought." In addition, she has written for a number of newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and New York Newsday. Harris-Lacewell regularly provides commentary on U.S. elections and race, religious and gender issues for leading news outlets across the country. Harris-Lacewell is currently working on a new book, "For Colored Girls Who've Considered Politics When Being Strong Wasn't Enough." The event is free and open to the public.

• Anthropologist Alma Gottlieb and fiction writer Philip Graham will read from their new book "Braided Words" at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, at UNC Asheville's Laurel Forum, Karpen Hall. "Braided Words" examines the fate of the Beng people after a bloody civil war in Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa. The story is told in the unique voices of the Beng people. Proceeds from sales of the book will be placed into a fund to help those Beng displaced by the war. The event is free and open to the public.

• A Humanities Lecture on "The Civil Rights Era" will be given by University Lecturer Cathy Whitlock at 11:25 a.m. Friday, Feb. 22, in UNC Asheville's Humanities Lecture Hall. The talk is free and open to the public.

Ron McCurdy of the Langston Hughes Project

• The Langston Hughes Project will present "Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz" at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, at UNC Asheville's Lipinsky Auditorium. The performance will bring the Harlem Renaissance to life by setting to music the 800-line, 12-part poetic suite written by Langston Hughes in 1961. The poems will be read aloud to the accompaniment of live jazz featuring The Ron McCurdy Trio and video images of the Harlem Renaissance by African-American artists and photographers, including Jacob Lawrence, Gordon Parks and Romare Bearden. The show will open with a 30-minute set by the YMI Community Jazz Band at 7:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22. Directed by Gary Bradley, the 24-piece group will perform jazz standards. Tickets are $15 general admission or $6 for students. For tickets and information, call 828/232-5000 or click on www.uncatickets.com.

• A Humanities Lecture on "Africa" will be presented by Assistant History Professor Samer Traboulsi at 11:25 a.m., Monday, Feb. 25, in UNC Asheville's Humanities Lecture Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Jabali Afrika

• The noted band Jabali Afrika will perform at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25, at UNC Asheville's Highsmith University Union Alumni Hall. Originating from Kenya, the band got its start in the 1990s among a group of friends studying together at the Kenya National Theatre Dance Troupe. Now, Jabali Afrika is best known for creating music that is a mixture of African rhythms. Their high-energy performances also include dance. Sponsored by Underdog Productions, this event is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Underdog Productions Office at 828/251-6244.


• A two-day summit on the importance of math literacy will be presented by Mission Health & Hospitals and the University of North Carolina Asheville Wednesday, Feb. 27, and Thursday, Feb. 28. The summit, entitled "Math: The Liberating Art," will open with a free public lecture by noted Civil Rights leader and MacArthur Fellow Robert P. Moses, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, at UNC Asheville's Lipinsky Auditorium. Moses will discuss the Algebra Project, a successful program he founded to help inner city and rural children succeed in algebra and college preparatory mathematics.

Dr. Robert P. Moses

On Thursday, Feb. 28, a plenary address will be given by Moses at 9 a.m. in UNC Asheville's Highsmith University Union. It will be followed by a series of workshops from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. These will focus on math literacy and its connections to workforce development, social justice issues, media literacy, and health and financial decision making. Cost for the workshop is $25.

For more information on the math summit and workshop topics, contact UNC Asheville Associate Professor of Mathematic Sam Kaplan at 828/232-5192 or e-mail skaplan@unca.edu.

For more information about UNC Asheville's observance of Black History Month, call the Office of Multicultural Student Programs at 828/232-5110.

• A Humanities Lecture on "Racism, Slavery and the Origins of Pan-Africanism" will be given by Associate Professor of History Dan Pierce, 11:25 a.m. Friday, Feb. 29, at UNC Asheville's Lipinsky Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.