102nd birthday of Rosa Parks

(Born 4 February 1913, Tuskegee, Ala, US)

Eminent freedom movement activist – appositely reminds the world: “You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right”

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FWD: Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease and other historic sequels

Chinua Achebe, No Longer at Ease (London: Penguin Classics, 2010), 144pp, £6.99/US$11.06, pbk

Ten of the biggest sequels from famous authors

http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/10-of-the-biggest-sequels-from-famous-authors--gy89bpjCse

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FWD: Molefi Kete Asante Institute Academic Award, 2015

The Molefi Kete Asante Institute would like to announce the third annual Molefi Kete Asante Institute Academic Award. The award is given to students who best represent the intellectual idea of Afrocentricity and the related concepts of African subjectivity and agency. The aim of the award is to reward students who understand the importance of maintaining a culturally-centered perspective in all manner of thought and behavior.

Two awards of $500 each will be awarded to local high school seniors with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. In addition to the application, an essay and letter of recommendation from a teacher or school counselor is required. Applications are available through http://www.mkainstitute.com/Pages/Default.aspx or by calling 215-882-9200. The deadline for applications is Friday, March 27, 2015.
 

Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies

5535 Germantown Avenue

Philadelphia, PA 19144

215-882-9200

http://www.mkainstitute.com/Pages/Default.aspx

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101st birthday of William Ellisworth Artis

(Born 2 February 1914, Washington, NC, US)

Celebrated versatile sculptor and academic

Artis working on A Mother’s Love (1963)

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46th birthday of Joshua Redman

(Born 1 February 1969, Berkeley, California, US)

One of the most inventive saxophonists (tenor, soprano, alto) and composers of his generation

(Joshua Redman Quartet, “Sweet sorrow” [personnel: Redman, tenor saxophone; Brad Mehldau, piano; Christian McBride, bass; Brian Blade, drums; recorded: Power Station, New York, US, 8/9/10 March 1994])

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40th anniversary of first open heart-surgery in Igboland/southwestcentral Africa

(1 February 1974, operation performed, Nsukka University Teaching Hospital, Enuugwu, Igboland)

First open heart-surgery in this part of west Africa was performed at the Nsukka University Teaching Hospital, Enuugwu, Igboland, on 1 February 1974 – four years and just over a month to the day after the formal end of phase-III of the 44-month long Igbo genocide, perpetrated by Nigeria. The surgeons who worked on this operation included CH Anyanwu, DC Nwafor, FA Udekwu and M Yacoub. In the subsequent 26 years, i.e., by 2000, a total of 102 (one hundred and two) open heart-surgeries were carried out in this Enuugwu centre. Currently, Professor Martin Aghaji of the centre is one of Africa’s leading cardiologists. It should be added that Professor Aghaji is brother to Professor Alloysius Aghaji, also a leading surgeon himself, in urology, who most sadly died in an accident at his home (in Enuugwu) in August 2009.

(Wynton Marsalis Quintet, “LC on the cut” [personnel: Marsalis, trumpet; Joe Henderson, tenor saxophone; Marcus Roberts, piano; Bob Hurst, bass; Elvin Jones, drums; recorded: BMG Studios, New York, US, {? ?} 1991])

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113th birthday of Langston Hughes

(Born 1 February 1902, Joplin, Missouri, US)

One of the most distinguished alumni of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s-1930s – prolific award-winning poet, novelist, playwright, columnist, freedom movement activist

First published in 1926 by Hughes, just 24, the poems here in The Weary Blues are a preview of the enduring liberatory portraiture of a stretch of anthologies and other writings that the savant contributes to African American and world literature

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