ATHENS, Ohio -- President and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Kweisi Mfume, will speak on "Our Children, Our Future" at 8 p.m. Feb. 19 in Ohio University's Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. This event is free and open to the public.

Mfume has been president of the NAACP since 1996, after being unanimously elected to the post by its board of directors. He has raised the standards and expectations of the association's branches nationwide and worked with its volunteers across the country to help usher in a new generation of civil rights advocacy.

His six-point action agenda, which encompasses civil rights, political empowerment, educational excellence, economic development and health and youth outreach, gives the NAACP a clear and compelling blueprint for the 21st century. The association is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization.

Before joining the association, Mfume represented Maryland's 7th Congressional District in the United State Congress, a seat he held for ten years. He served on the Banking and Financial Services Committee and held the ranking seat on the General Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. He was also a member of the Committee on Education and a senior member of the Small Business Committee.

During his third Congressional term, the Speaker of the House chose Mfume to serve on the Full Ethics Committee and Joint Economic Committee of the House and Senate, for which he later became chair. During his last term in Congress, Mfume was appointed the vice-chair for Communications by the House Democratic Caucus.

The Kennedy Lecture Series brings nationally-recognized individuals to the university to discuss public and cultural issues.