Chavis says Struggle Continues
Civil Rights Leader Speaks at Black History Month Program
Nicole Lockley & Shauntee Bailey
Issue date: 2/22/10 Section: News
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Chavis recently visited the University for the screening of the new movie Blood Done Sign My Name, a screen play inspired by the true story and book by Timothy Tyson.
Chavis is the President of the Education Online Services Corporation, the world's leading provider of online higher education for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
In 1963 Chavis was appointed as a statewide youth coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of North Carolina along side Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He has also served as the Executive Director and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP] in 1993 and 1994. Additionally, he is the President, CEO and co-founder, along side Hip-Hop mogul Russell Simmons, of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network founded in 2001.
Arriving early to meet with several Lincoln students and faculty, Chavis was given a tour of the campus and participated in a radio interview with Mass Communication students.
"I took a tour of the campus. Every time I come to Lincoln University I learn something different," he said.
Chavis was given the opportunity to speak and partake in a question and answer period prior to the screening of the movie in Ware Center Theater. Dr. Chavis and Dr. Judith A.W. Thomas, Dean of Social Sciences and Behavioral Studies, sat side by side on the stage as the students and faculty filtered into the room.
Chavis was introduced by Dean Thomas before he gave a brief history and background of the purpose of the movie Blood Done Sign My Name. The movie starred Nate Parker, who played the character of Chavis, Lela Rochon (Waiting to Exhale), Afemo Amilami (The Blind Side), Omar Benson Miller (Miracle at St. Anna), Michael Rooker Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer), Nick Searcy (Cast Away), Darrin Dewitt Henson (Stomp The Yard), and Gattlin Griffith (The Changeling). The movie outlined the events after the tragic beating and death of a Black veteran that returned to his segregated hometown. The court case, reminiscent of the Emmett Till case, caused the towns people to take to the streets and take a stand.
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