To learn more about the history and people involved in the events of June 1963, visit throughthedoors.ua.edu, the University’s official site for the anniversary celebration.

To add your department’s event to this page and the A&S events calendar, contact Dr. Jimmy Williams, associate dean for multicultural affairs, at (205) 348-7007 or jjwilliams@as.ua.edu.

To find out how your student organization can be part of the celebration, or to apply for a grant for your organization’s event, visit studentinvolvement.ua.edu.

This exhibition investigates how artists have explored the history of African-American experiences in the wake of the Great Migration (loosely dated from around 1915 to 1970) as well as more expansive historical and contemporary, local and global, and national and international migrations. It features renowned artists from the Paul R. Jones Collection of The University of Alabama such as Lois Mailou Jones, John Riddle Jr., James Sherman Brantley, Margaret T. Goss Burroughs, Reginald Gammon, Emma Amos, Dawoud Bey, and Elizabeth Catlett. Gallery talks will be held in March and April: March 7, 6 p.m., Dr. Utz McKnight; March 14, 6 p.m., Dr. Jennifer Shoaff; additional dates to be announced. Gallery hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday, 12 to 8 p.m.

Considered one of the most influential musicals of the 20th century, Show Boat combined the talents of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II to tell the story of three generations of show folk on the Cotton Blossom floating theater. Written in 1927, Show Boat is considered to be the first great American musical, and was the first show to address civil rights and racial inequalities.

Hosted by the Department of Chemistry, this symposium will highlight the extraordinary research contributions of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) faculty from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in chemistry and biochemistry. The symposium’s goals are to increase the appreciation of diversity, to encourage students from diverse backgrounds to pursue education in fields in which women and minorities have traditionally been underrepresented, and to strengthen professional and scientific relationships within the region. Through panel discussions highlighting educational and mentoring support, the symposium also seeks to open a dialogue on recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups, on the advantages of a graduate education, and on research and educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. A poster session will be held and undergraduate participants will be entered into a drawing for prizes.

Noted political scientist Dr. Wilbur Rich will speak about his early life in Montgomery, Alabama, during the civil rights era and African-American political participation since that time. In addition to the lecture, Dr. Rich will also discuss civil rights and political participation with New College LifeTrack students enrolled in the course Women in the Civil Rights Movement.

Students will participate in a two-day trip to the state capital, where they will visit historical sites, museums, and archives and reflect upon the difference, if any, between historical records and selected histories of women who participated in the American civil rights movement. This trip is open to students who are enrolled in the fall 2013 course “Women in the Civil Rights Movement,”  which is offered in a quasi-independent study/distance format to students in New College LifeTrack (EXD), through an independent study course in New College, or through a crosslisted course in the Department of Gender and Race Studies. Students in these classes may drive to Montgomery, or they can ride in a van with classmates. Each student is responsible for making his or her own lodging arrangements in Montgomery and the cost of food, lodging, and other trip-related expenses. To enroll in the gender and race studies class, contact Dr. Utz McKnight at (205) 348-5782 or umcknigh@as.ua.edu. To enroll in the New College independent study course, contact Dr. Margaret Purcell at (205) 348-7038 or mpurcell@ccs.ua.edu.

The University of Alabama’s preprofessional dance company will return to Morgan Hall with an all-new concert choreographed by UA’s award-winning dance program faculty and featuring the program’s talented students. ARDT presents a diverse mix of traditional and innovative pieces, bringing the storytelling of the dance to life with technical prowess and creativity.

Seven Guitars, a 1995 play by American playwright August Wilson, focuses on seven African-American characters in the year 1948. The play’s recurring theme is the African-American male’s fight for his own humanity, self-understanding, and self-acceptance in the face of personal and societal ills.

This one-day workshop will feature two panel discussions (one in the morning, one in the afternoon) given by scholars from The University of Alabama and universities around the country about the problems and possibilities of race relations within the United States today. In the morning panel, scholars will discuss current conditions as well as the history of the last 50 years. The afternoon panel will discuss the future of race relations and possibilities for improvement.

Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) activists Constance Curry and Doris Derby will speak about their work in SNCC and life in the freedom movement by sharing personal reflections from Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC.

This seminar, which will be taught as a blended learning experience for New College LifeTrack students (and offered as an independent study for New College and UA students), will offer an interdisciplinary look at post-Civil War legal history and the literature of the Harlem renaissance.

The Critical Languages Center will provide diverse foods for University of Alabama students to taste as part of the annual Exotic Food Tasting Trip. There will also be a costume show, international music, and a parade from the Ferguson Center to B.B. Comer Hall.

UA students are invited to visit the Civil Rights Institute to learn about events that shaped the civil rights movement in the United States. Admission is free and transportation is provided, but registration is required. Buses will return to the Ferguson Center at approximately 4:00 p.m.

The University of Alabama Department of Psychology will host a student-centered program featuring a speaker focusing on historical contributions of African American psychologists and the role that psychology has played in facilitating racial harmony; a poster session in which student authors and their faculty mentors will present work focusing on historical contributions of African American psychologists; and a reception.

Presented by the Department of Gender and Race Studies, this forum will consist of two parts: a roundtable discussion that will include Reverend Dr. Jonathan McPherson, Dr. Donald Brown, Dr. Art Dunning, Dr. Debra McCallum, and Dr. Utz McKnight, and Hattie B. Edwards, the first female mayor in Greene County. The roundtable discussion will be followed by a manifesto composed by our students, “When One Door Opens, So Too Must Another.” Free and open to the public.

Dr. Battle is a fellow of the American Speech Language Hearing Association and was president of the American Speech Language Hearing Association from 2005 to 2007. She will present on the historical data and demographic growth associated the participation of minorities in the speech-language pathology profession.

Sponsored by the Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South and the Department of History, this conference features presentations by leading scholars of the civil rights movement and graduate students studying this movement, plus poster presentations and a virtual exhibit on the civil rights movement in Alabama designed by University of Alabama undergraduate students. The morning panel, ”Alabama and the Civil Rights Movement, 50 Years On,” will run from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and feature panelists B.J. Hollars, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire; Hasan Jeffries, Ohio State University; and Jason Sokol, University of New Hampshire. Dr. Kari Frederickson, chair of UA’s Department of History, will moderate; Joseph Crespino of Emory University will provide comments. The afternoon panel, “Integration in the United States, Broadly Considered,” will be held from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. and feature panelists Dennis Deslippe, Frankin and Marshall College; Charles Martin, University of Texas-El Paso; and Joyce Baugh, University of Central Michigan. Rob Riser of the University of West Alabama will moderate; Francoise Hamlin of Brown University will provide comments. The conference will conclude with a keynote address by Diane McWhorter, author of Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution, at 5:15 p.m. in Malone-Hood Plaza at Foster Auditorium. (Rain location will be Farrah Hall 120). 

High school students from Tuscaloosa County and the surrounding Black Belt areas are invited to UA to learn about admissions and financial aid; campus life; special programs; and majors and minors. Students will have opportunities to meet with faculty members; entertainment will be provided.

The Alabama Symphonic Band will perform pieces honoring the desegregation struggle, including Michael Daugherty’s “Rosa Parks Boulevard,” featuring trombonists Dr. Jon Whitaker, Bruce Faske, and John Shanks; Mark Camphouse’s “A Movement for Rosa; and Ronald Lo Presti’s “Elegy for a Young American.” The concert will include a multimedia presentation highlighting the desegregation movement on the University of Alabama campus. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors, $3 for students.