Media Alert
PROMINENT SCHOLARS CONVENE TO CELEBRATE THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF EDUCATOR AND POLITICAL ACTIVIST WALTER RODNEY
ATLANTA (March 09, 2010) The Seventh Annual Walter Rodney Symposium will be held on Friday, March 19, 2010 from 1:30 -8:00 p.m. at the Spelman College Cosby Auditorium, 350 Spelman Lane SW, Atlanta, GA. The symposium “30 Years: Reflections on the Life and Works of Walter Rodney” will feature two outstanding speakers, academic and student panel discussions, and cultural performances. The event is free and open to the public.
The afternoon program will begin with a conversation between noted author and historian Dr. Paula Giddings and Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, womanist scholar and director of Spelman College Women’s Research and Resource Center. Dr. Giddings will discuss her recently published book on African American journalist, Ida B. Wells; revealing parallels between the activism of Walter Rodney and Wells.
The evening keynote address will be given by Andaiye, a prominent Caribbean women’s rights and human rights activist. Andaiye is a long-time friend and colleague of Walter Rodney, and was one of the founding members and leaders of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) of Guyana. She will discuss Rodney from a personal and professional perspective and reflect on his works and legacy, 30 years after his assassination.
The Symposium also includes two scholarly panels of faculty, students, and community activists who will discuss the underdevelopment and redevelopment of the nation of Haiti with respect to the impact and aftermath of the recent earthquake. Cultural presentations include dance, drumming and spoken word, and a special performance by Our Kids Atlanta. Books and T-shirts will be on sale with proceeds going to the Walter Rodney Foundation’s Haiti Re-Development Fund.
The symposium honors the work of Dr. Walter Rodney (1942-1980), Pan-Africanist historian, educator and political activist widely known for his seminal work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Originally published in 1972, the text has been translated into Portuguese, German and Japanese, and is widely used for coursework in colleges and universities in the U.S., Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. Rodney authored nine books and more than 50 articles, including: The Groundings with My Brothers (c.1969); A History of the Upper Guinea Coast, 1545 to 1980 (c.1970) and History of the Guyanese Working People 1881-1905 (c.1981). The first Rodney Symposium was held in 2004 to celebrate the donation of Walter Rodney’s personal papers by the Rodney family to the Robert W. Woodruff Library. The papers are available for research.
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The Walter Rodney Symposium is hosted by the Walter Rodney Foundation in collaboration with the African American Human Rights Foundation, Clark Atlanta University Department of Political Science, Kennesaw State University African and African Diaspora Studies, Morehouse School of Medicine Master of Public Health Program, Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center, and Spelman College Women’s Research and Resource Center. For more information on the symposium, please contact: Karen Jefferson 404-978-2045 kjefferson@auctr.edu
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Spelman College:
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is a prestigious, highly selective, liberal arts college that prepares women to change the world. Located in Atlanta, Ga., this historically black college boasts a 79 percent graduation rate, and outstanding alumnae such as Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman; former U.S. Foreign Service Director General Ruth Davis, authors Tina McElroy Ansa and Pearl Cleage; and actress LaTanya Richardson. More than 83 percent of the full-time faculty members have Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees, and the average faculty to student ratio is 12:1. More than 2,100 students attend Spelman. For more
information, visit: www.spelman.edu.
