Annual Black Male Symposium to be Held Feb. 25

Author, activist Kevin Powell

Winston-Salem State University’s 2010 Black Male Symposium will be held February 25, at 6 p.m .in Kenneth R. Williams Auditorium and feature noted political activist and author Kevin Powell as the keynote speaker.

A 9 a.m. panel presentation in Dillard Auditorium will feature local scholars and academics.

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 Dr. Na’im Akbar, Spike Lee, Rev. Floyd Flake, and Jim Ellis.

Powell is widely considered one of America’s most important voices in these early years of the 21st century. Legendary feminist Gloria Steinem asserts that “as a charismatic speaker, leader, and a very good writer, Kevin Powell has the courage…to be fully human, and this will bring the deepest revolution of all.” Internationally acclaimed scholar and social critic Dr. Michael Eric Dyson has called Powell “a mighty wind of fresh air.”

Kevin Powell is an activist, writer, public speaker, pop culture aficionado and a 2008 Democratic candidate for Congress in Brooklyn, New York. A product of extreme poverty, welfare, fatherlessness, and a single mother-led household, he is a native of Jersey City, New Jersey. He was educated at New Jersey’s Rutgers University. Powell is a longtime resident of Brooklyn, New York. He has published nine books, including his recent essay collection titled, Someday We’ll All Be Free (Soft Skull Press). This collection of provocative pieces looks at freedom, democracy, justice, and race in America, as inspired by Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 presidential election, and September 11th. Besides running for Congress, Powell also managed to publish two new books in 2008: No Sleep Till Brooklyn, his second volume of poetry; and The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life, a self-help book geared toward the healing, development, and empowerment of Black men and boys.

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.

Members of the organization have volunteered with 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 and Forsyth County for their contribution to the arts community and were awarded the 2007 Winston-Salem State University Student Organization of the Year. The organization has also been featured in the Winston-Salem Chronicle.

Members of Black Men for Change have read three of Mr. Powell’s books: Someday We’ll All Be Free, The Black Male Handbook and Open Letters to America to prepare for his lecture and engage in intellectual dialogue about issues impacting black males in America.