Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr. - Lincoln (PA) Screening of “Blood Done Sign My Name"

[LULions]

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA – Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr., co-founder, president and CEO of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN), will speak at Lincoln University on Thursday, February 18, at 11 a.m. in the Ware Center Theater, on the University’s main campus in southern Chester County.

Dr. Chavis’ speech will be a testimony of the pivotal event that occurred in Oxford, NC, which spawned the making of the Civil Rights focused movie, Blood Done Sign My Name (2010). Afterward, there will be a screening of the movie.

Blood Done Sign My Name is a candid account of a shocking episode in the last days of Jim Crow North Carolina—an event that took place nearly a decade after the Civil Rights Movement was supposed to have purged the South of the evils of segregation and racial violence. The film chronicles the race-related murder of Henry “Dickie” Marrow, cousin of Benjamin Chavis Jr., and its aftermath from multiple perspectives. 

The movie is based on the acclaimed book of the same name and memoirs by prize-winning author and scholar Timothy Tyson. It stars Rick Schroeder of the hit television series, NYPD Blue, and Nate Parker from the movie The Great Debaters. Tyson, now a visiting professor at Duke University, was 10 at the time of Marrow’s murder, the son of a progressive white Methodist minister who tried to bring about change in his congregation.

The film also depicts the uprising that caused Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., now 62, to emerge as a leader in the Black community. Then a young high school teacher and budding civil rights organizer, Chavis began his career in 1963, as a statewide youth coordinator in North Carolina for the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).  In 1970, Chavis was appointed as the southern regional program director of the 1.7 million-member United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice (UCC-CRJ). He was named the executive director and CEO of the UCC-CRJ in 1985. In 1988, Dr. Chavis was elected vice president of the National Council of Churches of the USA.  From 1985 to 1993, Dr. Chavis wrote and produced the national syndicated newspaper column and radio program, “Civil Rights Journal.”
 
In 1993 and 1994, Dr. Chavis served as the executive director and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was the national director and organizer of the 1995 Million Man March in Washington, DC. From 1995 to 1997, Chavis was the executive director and CEO of the National African American Leadership Summit (NAALS). His social experience and leadership expertise inspired him to co-found the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network with Hip-Hop mogul Russell Simmons. Last year, Dr. Chavis joined with Ezell Brown to establish the Education Online Services Corporation.
 
This event is in honor of Black History Month and is free and open to the public.

Link to photos of Dr. Chavis during his speech, and interviews on Lincoln’s TV and Radio stations:

http://www.lincoln.edu/events/blooddonesigngallery/demo.php

[LULions]

The Lincoln University Student Newspaper (The Lincolnian) article on Dr. Benjamin Chavis and the screening of "Blood Done Sign My Name"

Chavis says Struggle Continues
Civil Rights Leader Speaks at Black History Month Program

By: Nicole Lockley & Shauntee Bailey

Posted: 2/22/10

"Well I am living, but I'm not finished yet," said Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. when asked by a Lincoln University student if he would consider himself a living legend.

Chavis recently visited the University for the screening of the new movie Blood Done Sign My Name, a screen play inspired by the true story and book by Timothy Tyson.

Chavis is the President of the Education Online Services Corporation, the world's leading provider of online higher education for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

In 1963 Chavis was appointed as a statewide youth coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of North Carolina along side Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He has also served as the Executive Director and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP] in 1993 and 1994. Additionally, he is the President, CEO and co-founder, along side Hip-Hop mogul Russell Simmons, of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network founded in 2001.

Arriving early to meet with several Lincoln students and faculty, Chavis was given a tour of the campus and participated in a radio interview with Mass Communication students.

"I took a tour of the campus. Every time I come to Lincoln University I learn something different," he said.

Chavis was given the opportunity to speak and partake in a question and answer period prior to the screening of the movie in Ware Center Theater. Dr. Chavis and Dr. Judith A.W. Thomas, Dean of Social Sciences and Behavioral Studies, sat side by side on the stage as the students and faculty filtered into the room.

Chavis was introduced by Dean Thomas before he gave a brief history and background of the purpose of the movie Blood Done Sign My Name. The movie starred Nate Parker, who played the character of Chavis, Lela Rochon (Waiting to Exhale), Afemo Amilami (The Blind Side), Omar Benson Miller (Miracle at St. Anna), Michael Rooker Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer), Nick Searcy (Cast Away), Darrin Dewitt Henson (Stomp The Yard), and Gattlin Griffith (The Changeling). The movie outlined the events after the tragic beating and death of a Black veteran that returned to his segregated hometown. The court case, reminiscent of the Emmett Till case, caused the towns people to take to the streets and take a stand.

Audience members were given the chance to ask Chavis questions regarding his involvement in Civil Rights, his outlook on the current state and future of Hip-Hop and the Black community.

"I see continuity between Hip-hop and the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights was audacious and took audacity, and Hip-hop is also audacious and sort of in your face," said Chavis. "Hip-hop is a reflection of what goes on in the community.

Chavis continued to answer questions about his opinion on Hip-hop, saying that Hip-hop is not dead and that there is no such thing as conscious and unconscious rappers.

"They're either conscious of freedom and equality, or conscious of strip clubs. My job is to change their consciousness." Chavis gave examples of Hip-hop personalities that he has worked with and try to influence such as Jim Jones and Dipset, Lil Mama, Foxxy Brown and Lil Kim.
Chavis gave other encouraging words and praise to the university saying, "You're privileged to be at Lincoln University, but with privilege comes more responsibility."

The movie began at approximately 12pm and was two hours in length. Chavis departed early but the program concluded with a round of applause and a brief discussion led by Dean Thomas about Black responsibility.



Lincolnian link:
http://www.thelincolnianonline.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=6ae5a371-b4c7-4c76-9b3c-65fa7529afcc