Arts & Lifestyle
Bennett hosting showbiz panel
Bennett College's Office of Career Services will host
Leveraging UP! Entertainment Industry College Outreach
Program on Monday, Feb. 16 from 1 to 4 p.m. in the
Global Learning Center, 900 East Washington St. The
program, which includes a panel discussion and a recruit
ment session, is free and open to Bennett students and stu
dents attending area Historically Black Colleges and
Utliversities (HBCUs).
Leveraging UP!(LU) is an entertainment organization
dedicated to educating, recruiting and developing the next
generation of industry leaders, innovators and visionaries
of tomorrow. LU is the only industry specific organization
with a 21st Century "Pipeline Development
Program'(PDP) designed to reach and attract the best and
brightest talent for careers with some of the world's lead
ing media, entertainment and communication companies.
"This is an excellent opportunity for our students,"
said Darryl K. Johnson, career services director. "My job
at Bennett is to make sure that our students graduate and
then enter graduate school or start their careers. We pro
vide a broad range of programs to help our students
explore career opportunities while also serving employ
ers. The Leveraging UP program educates and recruits
students for work in the multi-faceted entertainment
industry."
Students attending the program will have an opportu
nity to interact with Stacy Milner, founder of Leveraging
UP! With 17 years of experience working alongside net
work and studio chairmen, she will provide an inside look
at the culture and environment of the industry that is
essential for leveraging a career in this highly competitive,
job market.
Leveraging UP! partners that will be present for the
recruitment session include CBS, Disney, ABC,
Dreamworks and the National Academy of Television
Arts & Sciences.
To reserve a seat or for more information, call 336
517-2358 or email, djohnson@bennett.edu.
Two-part TV series links black
landowners to the Movement
SPECIAL TO THE
CHRONICLE ,
This year marks the
50th anniversary of the
passage of one of the most
important pieces of civil
rights legislation in
American history, the 1965
Voting Rights Act.
A new Smithsonian
Channel Black History
Month two-part special,
"Mississippi Inferno"
reveals the essential role
played by black landown
ers and black independent
fanners as a real driving
force behind the passage of
this legislation.
Nanated by actor,
director and political
activist Danny Glover
(Lethal Weapon), the two
part special premieres
Monday, Feb. 16 with
"Mississippi Inferno: Seeds
of Revolt" at 8 p.m. ET/PT,
followed by "Mississippi
Inferno: Deeds of
Defiance" at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
This past November,
President Barack Obama
awarded the Presidential
Medal of Freedom to slain
civil rights activists James
Chaney, Michael
Schwerner and Andrew
Goodman, who were mur
Photo provided by The Smithsonian Channel
Jody 'Preacher' Saffold, HolmesCounty, Mississippi.
dered by the Ku Klux Klan
during 1964's historic voter
registration drive.
"Mississippi Inferno"
reveals that a second "triple
murder" was being planned
by the KKK - only the next
three targets were not "out
side agitators," but three
black landowners who
allowed civil rights work
ers to stay in their homes.
This group of black
landowners and independ
ent farmers were willing to
risk their land, their homes,
and their lives by using
their land as collateral to
obtain property bonds to
get hundreds of civil rights
workers out of jail.
"Mississippi Inferno"
features compelling first
person accounts of the
courage and resourceful
ness of the families who
jeopardized their land and
their lives for social justice.
Their story has been
largely ignored and yet
they were key to thf suc
cess of the Civil Rights
Movement. They not only
provided safe havens and
food, but even armed pro
tection to the outside vol
unteers who were other
wise committed to non-vio
lence.
Willing to risk it all,
they changed the course of
American history.
Powerful Southern white
officials may have been
worried more about
African- Americans using
the "cotton vote" to take
over agricultural commit
tees which controlled mil
lions of dollars in federal
crop subsidies than they
were about black enfran
chisement. '
Also told is the story of
an independent farmer and
teacher, Robert Clarke J.R.,
who came to own the land
on which his great-grand
parents were enslaved and
became the first black can
didate elected to a state
wide office in Mississippi
since Reconstruction.
"Mississippi Inferno" is
produced by Thunk It
Media in association with
Mentorn Media for
Smithsonian Channel.
Find out more at
www.smithsonianchan
nel.com.
Bennett to present
'For Colored Girls
SPECIAL T(|THE
CHRONICLE
The Bennett College
Theatre Department, under
the direction of Tennille
Foust, will present Ntozake
Shange's award-winning
play "For Colored Girls
Who Have Considered
Suicide When the Rainbow
is Enuf" from Thursday,
Feb. 19 through Sunday,
Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. nightly
and 3 p.m. on Feb. 22.
Foust, associate profes
sor of Theatre & Speech,
will moderate a "talk back"
immediately following the
show on opening night.
The dialogue will compare
th^ play with the movie
version of the play directed
by Tyler Perry.
"For Colored Girls
Who Have Considered
Suicide When the Rainbow
is Enuf," Shange's first
work, tells the stories of
seven women who have
suffered oppression in a
racist and sexist society.
Although the stories these
women tell are tales of
struggle, the play is ulti
mately uplifting. The seven
women grieve, but they
also celebrate their lives,
their vitality, and their col
orfulness.
Foust, who has directed
other works such as
"Crowns" and "A Woman
Like Me," encourages the
community to come out
and support this work of
art.
"1 wanted to direct For
Colored Girls because it's a
story that all women need
to know. The same issues
that women dealt with in
the 70s are the same issues
we are dealing with in
2015. It is my mission to
spread the knowledge that
a woman must FIRST learn
to love herself before she
can ever expect a man to
love her. This show is like
healing oil for women ."
Tickets are $10 for the
general public; $5 for col
lege students and Bennett
faculty, staff and alumnae;
and $2 for Bennett stu
dents. Tickets can be pur
chased one hour before the
start of the show or by call
ing 336-517-1689 or email
ing tfoust@bennett.edu. A
portion of the proceeds
from tickets sales will ben
efit the Lupus Foundation
of Greensboro. Bennett
College is located at 900
East Washington St. in
Greensboro.
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Yadkin Cultural Arts ^ w THEATER
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Starts
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February 13,20,21 7:30 pm
$20
February 14th Gala 6:00 pm
Stompin At
ihe Savoy
A journey back to the heyday of Harlem's Cotton Club and the old Savoy
ballrooms this musical reminiscence is a high-stepping, smoky pnxhic
tion. Written and directed by The Willingham's own artistic director Ron
Stacker Thompson, the 30's nightclub extravaganza features the timeless
music of Gershwin, Goodman, Ellington, Cole Porter and Billie Holiday.
Tickets: yadkmrtuxg or 336*79-2941 226 E. Main S^Yadkinvile