March 10, 2009
Former President of NAACP and Maryland
Congressman Kweise Mfume to Deliver Lecture
 Former
Maryland Congressman and president of the NAACP
Kweise Mfume will deliver the annual Carter G.
Woodson Lecture on March 10 at St. Mary's
College of Maryland (SMCM). The talk, titled
"Racism, Sexism and
Anti-Semitism (Old Wine in New Bottles)," will
be at 8 p.m. in the Auerbach Auditorium of St.
Mary's Hall. A reception will be held afterwards
on the second story of the River Center. Both
events are free and open to the
public. For more information contact Marc Apter
at 240-895-4381 or
mlapter@smcm.edu.
Mfume
represented Maryland's seventh congressional
district from 1986 to 1996, serving on the
Ethics Committee and the Joint Economic
Committee of the House and Senate. He
successfully co-sponsored and helped to pass the
Americans with Disabilities Act and strengthened
the Equal Credit Opportunity Law. Mfume was
unanimously elected as President and Chief
Executive Officer of the NAACP in February of
1996 and served there for nine years, during
which time he negotiated for and successfully
secured the NAACP's official United Nations
status as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).
Throughout 2008 he served as national surrogate
speaker for the "Obama for America" Presidential
campaign.
The annual
Carter G. Woodson Lecture honors the father of
African-American History. Woodson was an author,
editor, publisher, historian, and founder of the
Journal of African American History, which he
started in 1915. Past speakers in the Carter G.
Woodson Lecture Series have included Tony Brown,
Donna Brazile, Lonnie Bunch, and Kurt Schmoke.
This year the
lecture serves as the capstone for Culture Shock
Day, a day of
activities through which students explore and
celebrate diversity in its
various forms, whether in terms of gender, race,
ethnicity, nationality or
religion. Mfume's talk will speak to several of
these differences and how
they have been approached by society in the
past, as well as how it ought to
be approached in the future.
Mfume received
the 2005 Telly Award for best independent TV
documentary. He
has made appearances as a guest commentator on
the ABC "This Week" program
and has been featured on 60 Minutes, the Today
Show, Good Morning America,
Meet the Press, and Nightline.
Several
members of the
St. Mary’s County NAACP
were in
attendance:
President, St. Mary’s County NAACP, Wayne
Scriber, Former St. Mary’s County Sheriff and
St. Mary’s County NAACP Treasurer, Joseph L.
Somerville, and Member at Large, Alonzo Gaskin.
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