ATHENS, Ohio (April 26, 2004) -- President of Prairie View A&M University George C. Wright will speak at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 27, at Margaret M. Walter Hall, room 145, on the Ohio University campus. His presentation is titled "A 50-Year Retrospective: The Significance and Legacies of Brown v. Board of Education." The event is free and open to the public.
Wright was named president of Prairie View A&M, a historically black university located 40 miles northwest of Houston, on July 8, 2003. Previous to that he worked at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he served as executive vice president for academic affairs and provost from 1995 to 1998 and senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, 1998 to 2000
Wright has worked in higher education for more than 25 years and has taught or held administrative positions at the University of Kentucky (1977-80), University of Texas at Austin (1980-93) and Duke University (1993-95). While at Duke, he held the William R. Kenan Jr. Chair in American History.
He has authored three books, which include: "A History of Blacks in Kentucky: In Pursuit of Equality, 1890-1980, Volume II," "Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1940: Lynchings, Mob Rule, and Legal Lynchings" and "Life Behind a Veil: Blacks in Louisville, Kentucky, 1865-1930." Currently, he is writing a biography titled "Robert Charles O'Hara Benjamin: A 'Forgotten' Afro-American Leader." He has also co-directed two documentaries for television, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down" and "Upon this Rock: The Black Church in Kentucky."
A native of Lexington, Ky., Wright earned bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the University of Kentucky and a doctorate in history from Duke University.
This event is part of Ohio University's Brown v. Board of Education commemoration of the landmark decision handed down on May 17, 1954, that made segregation in public schools unlawful. For more information, visit www.ohio.edu/brownvboard/.
This event is sponsored by the Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Commemoration Committee, the Department of African American Studies and the Martin Luther King Jr. Committee.
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Media Contact: Specialist George Mauzy, (740) 597-1794 or mauzy@ohio.edu
Editors: A photo of Wright can be found at: www.ohio.edu/news/pix/WRIGHT_GEORGE.JPG
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