'African-Americans You Wish You Had Known'

Most Americans recognize names like Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver and Rosa Parks as African-Americans who changed history. What about Marshal Bass Reeves, Ida B. Wells or Lewis Latimer? These African-Americans also left their mark on history, but they and their achievements go largely unknown to Americans of all races.

“Portraits of Courage: African-Americans You Wish You Had Known” will explore these not-so-famous Americans in a dramatic presentation at 7 p.m. on Feb. 20 in the Crimson and Gold Ballroom of the Overman Student Center on the Pittsburg State University Campus. This program, sponsored by the Office of Student Diversity, is free and open to the public.

"Portraits of Courage" is an examination of overlooked African-Americans and their contributions to American history. In the 65-minute presentation, two actors will introduce the audience to seven who helped shape the nation. They are: Ida B. Wells: the activist and journalist who, at great personal cost, brought to mainstream America the horrors of the South; Lewis Latimer, one of the original Edison pioneers and the designer of a lasting and cost-effective filament for the light bulb; Colonel Young, a graduate of West Point and commander of the 9th Cavalry, known as the Buffalo Soldiers; CJ Walker, an entrepreneur whose business acumen with 'hair growth' products helped her become America's first female millionaire; Bass Reeves: the first black marshal west of the Mississippi; and Fannie Lou Hamer, who picked 300 pounds of cotton a day until she learned that as a black woman she had a right to vote.

Colin Cox, co-author of “Faces of America” and “American Voices” is the creator of “Portraits of Courage,” which premiered in New York in 2005. The production is presented by the Los Angeles theater company Will & Company.

For more information, contact Eric Wilkinson in the Office of Student Diversity at 620-235-6078, eawilkin@pittstate.edu. For more on “Portraits of Courage,” go to their Web site:
http://www.willandcompany.com/portraits/index.html

---Pitt State---