Live performance featuring renowned jazz scholar Dr. Ron McCurdy highlights celebration of African-American heritage

As part of its commitment to promote, honor and celebrate diversity, Cleveland State University announces the return of Black Aspirations Week. A campus tradition since 1973, the week-long event features speakers, workshops, and performances that celebrate the heritage of African-American peoples as well as Black America's future.

The celebration will be headlined by a special performance of Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz, an original multi-media presentation based on a Langston Hughes poetic suite about the global struggle for freedom, on April 21 at 7 p.m. in CSU’s Main Classroom Auditorium.

Internationally recognized scholar Dr. Ron McCurdy will perform Hughes’ insightful and soulful poem accompanied by a live jazz quartet, and video images of the Harlem Renaissance by African American artists and photographers including Jacob Lawrence, Gordon Parks and Romare Bearden.

Tickets are free of charge and available in the university’s Department of Student Life (Main Classroom Building Room 106) and through its Black Studies program (Howard A. Mims African American Cultural Center, MC 137).

Black Aspirations Week events and activities include:

Community Dinner
Monday, April 19 at 6 p.m., Main Classroom Room 137
Featuring excerpts from Cleveland Playwright Michael Oatman’s thought-provoking “Eclipse the War between Tupac and Biggie.”

NSBE Fellowship Discussion featuring: Dr. Julian Earls, former Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Glenn Research Center
Tuesday, April 20, 11 a.m., Howard A. Mims African American Cultural Center
Sponsored by the National Society for Black Engineers (NSBE)

Kikundi Black Male Initiative: “Leading by Example” Award Ceremony
Tuesday, April 20 at Noon, Waetjen Lobby
Sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs AHANA Program. For info call 216.687.9233.

Langston Hughes Project: Ask Your Mama – 12 Moods for Jazz
Wednesday, April 21 at 7 p.m., Main Classroom Auditorium
Free tickets available in the Department of Student Life (MC 106) 216.687.2048, and the Howard A. Mims African American Cultural Center (MC 137) 216.687.3655.

Young People Initiative (YPI) Homeless Awareness Week Sleep-Out
Wednesday, April 21 at 7 p.m., Viking Hall Lawn

Music Series
Thursday, April 22 at 11 a.m., Drinko Hall

Langston Hughes’ Dreams Continued – Black History traced through poems, read by CSU students
Thursday, April 22 at Noon, Main Classroom Auditorium
Sponsored by Black Studies, Howard A. Mims African American Cultural Center, Undergraduate Admissions Office, and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated (Phi Theta Chapter).

Black Alumni Reunion
Friday, April 23 at 6 p.m., Main Classroom Room 137
For more information contact Black Studies at 216.687.3655

Salute to Black Graduates
Friday, April 23 at 7 p.m., Wolstein Center
(Registration Required through ODAMA: 216.687.9394)

Do Gooder Day
Saturday, April 24 at 9 a.m.
Advance registration required. For more information call Student Life at 216.687.2048.

Black to Health
Saturday, April 24 at 12:30 p.m., YMCA, 2200 Prospect Ave.
For more information call 216.344.7700

Sponsors
Black Aspirations Week is a collaborative effort sponsored by various colleges, departments and organizations within Cleveland State University including: College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS), Department of Student Life, Howard A. Mims African American Cultural Center, Black Studies, Black Student Union, Young Peoples Initiative (YPI), Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs & CSU Learning Communities.

About Dr. Ronald C. McCurdy

Former President of the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE), Ronald C. McCurdy, PhD, is Chairman of the Jazz Studies Department and Professor of Music in the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California (USC). He is also currently a consultant to the Grammy Foundation educational programs including serving as director of the National Grammy Vocal Jazz Ensemble.

Prior to his appointment at USC he served as Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at USC. He has served as Professor of Music and chair of the Afro-African American Studies Department and served as Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Minnesota.

About Cleveland State University

Founded in 1964, Cleveland State University is a public research institution that provides a dynamic setting for engaged learning. With an enrollment of more than 16,000 students, 8 colleges and more than 250 academic programs, CSU provides a hands-on learning environment that connects students, ideas and real-world experience.

# # #