Press Release

POETIC GALA “CHAMPIONS, HEROES AND ICONS,” DEBUTS BLACK STUDIES CENTER AT DC’s MLK LIBRARY

Washington, DC - Standing tall in the nation’s capitol is the newly renovated Black Studies Center of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, which will present “Champions, Heroes and Icons,” its inaugural public event since the Center’s makeover.  The two-fold gala celebration includes tributes to the lives of ten historic figures, and also introduces and welcomes the public to the Library’s newly renovated Black Studies Center, located at 901 G Street, N.W., (Room 316) Washington, DC 20001.  The celebration is scheduled to take place from 5:00 until 8:30 PM on Tuesday, November 17, 2009, and will feature poets; J. Joy “Sistah Joy” Matthews Alford, Andre “Brenardo” Taylor, Sylvia Dianne “Ladi Di” Beverly, Jeffrey “Big Homey” Banks and DaRon Clark; and musicians Doc Powell and James “Curly” Robinson.

Incorporating poetry, music and spoken word presentations, an apex of the event promises to be the ten-foot tall images on the book-shelf panels located across the Black Studies Center.   The panels depict ten selected luminaries: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson, Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington and Carter G. Woodson.  The poetry and musical presentations will highlight the legacies of the ten historic figures.  The Center will also debut an anthology which features a partnered photograph and poem for each of the 10 historic figures.       

Although modest in size, the Black Studies Center will be a great resource for residents and visitors to the nation’s capitol as the Center positions itself to become one of the city’s foremost “intimate” public facilities in hosting public events in a culturally aesthetic atmosphere.  The Center embraces a high level of scholarship and promotes a creative use of the newly renovated space to host the viewing of film, lectures and book signings as well as encouraging collaborative projects with the artistic and literary communities in DC and beyond.