This week at Wake Forest

MAYA ANGELOU TO READ KING LETTER

On Monday, Jan. 18, Maya Angelou will read King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” at 7 p.m. in Wait Chapel. Written by King in 1963 after he was arrested during a demonstration in Birmingham, the letter was later widely circulated and became a classic of the civil rights movement. Admission is free and open to the public. Broadcast reporters should arrive by 6:30 p.m. to get line level feeds.

AUTHOR TO DISCUSS BLACK WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE

On Wednesday, Jan. 20, Wake Forest will host a 7 p.m. lecture and discussion on the “Role of Black Women in the Workplace.” Ella L. J. Edmondson Bell, author of “Our Separate Ways: Black and White Women’s Paths to Success in Corporate America,” will speak. Bell is associate professor of management at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The free lecture will be held in Brendle Recital Hall.

FACULTY TO HOST TOWN MEETING ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Wake Forest Associate Professor of Politics Katy Harriger will moderate a “Town Meeting on Affirmative Action” on Tuesday, Jan. 19, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Benson University Center’s Pugh Auditorium. Panelists include Charles Richman, Wake Forest professor of psychology; Robert Whaples, Wake Forest associate professor of economics; and Ella L.J. Edmondson Bell, associate professor of management at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

AFRICAN STORYTELLING

Kwadwo and Naana Opoku-Agyemang, literature professors from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, will present “African Storytelling Frees Us! A Tale of Human Rights” from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21, in Benson University Center’s Pugh Auditorium. For the free, public event the Opoku-Agyemangs will use storytelling to discuss human rights, slavery and women’s issues. The campus visit by the Opoku-Agyemangs is sponsored by the Year of Globalization and Diversity, the Multicultural Affairs office and the women’s studies program.

A DRUM CIRCLE POETRY READING

A “drum circle,” an interactive poetry reading that incorporates drum rhythms, is planned from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21, in the Scales Fine Arts Center’s Ring Theater. Kwadwo Opoku-Agyemang will read from his forthcoming novel about the slave experience, and “Cape Coast Castle,” a collection of poetry about a slave castle near his home.

HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE TO DISCUSS SWEATSHOPS

Michael Posner, executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, will present “Labor Rights are Human Rights: Addressing Sweatshop Practices in the Apparel Industry,” at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21, in the Scales Fine Arts Center, Room 102. Posner, a member of the White House task force examining sweatshops worldwide, has led the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights since its inception in 1978. Posner has worked on issues dealing with Central America, the Philippines, Israel, Egypt, China and other countries. His lecture is part of a series of events during Wake Forest’s Year of Globalization and Diversity.

Categories: Arts & Culture, Community, Events, Speakers