Learn about politics, protests, people and possibilities at Park University's monthlong celebration of Black History Month 2005.

Presentations will begin at 7 p.m. in the McCoy Meetin' House at the Park University Parkville, Mo. campus and are free to the public.

The 2005 celebration will feature three speakers who are noted experts on African-American history. The series will begin on Monday, Feb. 7 with Wanda Hendricks, Ph.D., an associate professor of history and graduate director of the women's studies program at the University of South Carolina. The author of  "Gender, Race, and Politics in the Midwest: Black Club Women in Illinois," Hendricks is also the national director of the Association of Black Women Historians.

The second series on Wednesday, Feb. 16 features John Dittmer, Ph.D., professor of history at DePauw University. Dittmer's special area of interest is the civil rights movement in Mississippi, which he has studied and researched for more than 30 years. He is the author of "Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi," which received the Herbert G. Gutman Award, the Lillian Smith Book Award, the McLemore Prize from the Mississippi Historical Society and the Bancroft Prize.

The final series on Monday, Feb. 28 will be presented by Brenda Stevenson, Ph.D., professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a well-known writer and lecturer on the southern white family, the free black family in the southern and northern U.S., and the contemporary African American family. Stevenson is the author of "Life in Black and White: Family and Community in the Slave South" and "The Journals of Charlotte Forten Grimke."

The Black History Month Celebration presentations are a part of The Spencer Cave Black History Lecture Series - a lecture series honoring Spencer Cave who was born a slave at the start of the Civil War. Following his family's emancipation, he began to work for the University where he served for more than 70 years. Students often came to him for advice, and even years after their graduation, Cave would remember each student's name. Following his death, the students initiated a "Spencer Cave Day" during which all classes were canceled to allow students, faculty and staff to clean up the campus he loved for so many years. Cave died in 1947 as a Park University legend.

Students, educators and the community are cordially invited to attend these free and informative presentations. For more information or directions, please call (816) 584-6364.

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