1/31/97 Contact: Multicultural Programs, 614/593-4027

Editors/News directors: Yolanda King will appear at a press conference at 7 p.m. Monday (Feb. 3) in the 1804 Lounge in Baker Center. For more information, contact the sponsoring University Program Council at 614/593-4171.

ATHENS, Ohio -- Yolanda King, the eldest daughter of the late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will kick off Ohio University's celebration of Black History Month on the Athens campus with a lecture at 8 p.m. Monday (Feb. 3) in Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.

King's lecture, titled "Achieving the Dream," is one of three events that will anchor a February schedule filled with events highlighting African-American culture, history and tradition.

Titled "Gathering Strength from Past to Present," Ohio University's celebration also will feature a speech by Wilfred Shabazz, eldest brother of Malcolm X, at 7 p.m. Feb. 5 in Scripps Hall's Anderson Auditorium, and "The Meeting," a play depicting the mythical meeting of Malcolm X and Dr. King, at 7 p.m. Feb. 18 in Baker Center Ballroom.

Speeches by King and Shabazz are free, while tickets for "The Meeting" are $1 and available at the door, or by contacting the Office of Multicultural Programs at 205 Baker Center or 593-4027.

Besides Multicultural Programs, major sponsors for these and other events are University Program Council, Black Student Cultural Programming Board (BSCPB), the Performing Arts Series, United Campus Ministry, the College of Communication, and local fraternities and sororities.

Yolanda King's career has prospered as an actress, producer-director and lecturer. She received her bachelor's degree with honors in theater and African-American Studies at Smith (Mass.) College, and earned her MFA in theater at New York University. King is a founding member of Christian Theater Artists and, for 10 years, served as co-founding director of Nucleus, a performing arts company.

Her acting career includes spots in off-Broadway productions and made-for-TV movies. She portrayed Rosa Parks in the NBC-TV movie "King." She currently is a visiting professor in the Theater Department at Fordham University in New York.

A topic for Shabazz's speech has not been announced.

"The Meeting," a play written by Jeff Preston, will be performed by the Kumba Players of Boston. The play, set in a shabby Harlem hotel room in February 1965, examines the public and private lives of both Dr. King and Malcolm X and their clash of ideas and tactics for the advancement of freedom. BSCPB and Multicultural Programs will sponsor the play.

Other events taking place on the Athens campus during Black History Month include the following. For more details, contact Multicultural Programs at 593-4027.

n The annual black poetry contest, featuring Mohammed Bilal from MTV's "The Real World," will take place at 7 p.m. Feb. 6 in 194 Irvine Auditorium. Admission has not been determined. It is sponsored by Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority.

n A free speech by Nashid Fakhrid-Deen, titled "African, African American and Native American Spirituality Past to Present," is at 7 p.m. Feb. 13 in 327 Baker Center. Fakhrid-Deen, former coordinator of minority student affairs in Ohio University's College of Health and Human Services, is community coordinator for minority affairs at the University of Kentucky.

A Little Sibs Weekend variety show, sponsored by the BSCPB, will take place at 8 p.m. Feb. 14 in Baker Center Ballroom. Admission is $5 for the variety show and $3 to $5 for a dance that will follow at 10 p.m. in the ballroom. Tickets will be available at the door.

A Little Sibs Weekend concert, featuring 112, Foxy Brown and T-Elite, will begin at 7 p.m. Feb. 15 in Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Tickets are $13 and $15 and can be purchased at the Memorial Auditorium ticket office. That event is sponsored by the BSCPB.

A forum discussing notable African-American authors will take place at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 in 304 Baker Center. Admission is free. It is sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority also will sponsor a free program focusing on African Americans in politics Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. in 304 Baker Center.

The vocal and musical group Sounds of Blackness will perform "The Journey of the Drum" as part of the Performing Arts Series at 8 p.m. Feb. 21 in Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Tickets are $10 and $12 and on sale at the auditorium box office.