Activist/writer to speak March 17

Kevin Powell, political activist and writer, will speak at 7 p.m. March 17 in Old Main Chapel. The free program is open to the public.

His talk, "Someday We'll All Be Free: Young America, Voting & The New Activism," is sponsored by the university's Black Heritage Committee. A book signing will follow his talk.

Powell, considered one of America's most important voices in the early years of the 21st century, is a political activist, poet, journalist, essayist, hip-hop historian, public speaker, and entrepreneur. A product of extreme poverty, welfare, fatherlessness, and a single mother-led household, he is a native of Jersey City, N.J., and was educated at Rutgers University.

This longtime resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., is the author of nine books, including his recent Someday We'll All Be Free, a collection of provocative pieces on freedom, democracy, justice and race in America as inspired by Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 presidential election, and Sept. 11, 2001. He is also working on a new collection of essays, a collection of poetry for publication in 2010, his childhood memoir for publication in 2011 and an anthology of his works for publication in 2011.

Powell has written numerous essays, articles, and reviews for publications such as Esquire, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Essence, Rolling Stone, The Amsterdam News and Vibe, where he was a founding staff member and served as a senior writer, interviewing and profiling General Colin Powell and the late Tupac Shakur. Most recently he has been a Writing Fellow for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, as well as a Phelps Stokes Fund Senior Fellow.

A fixture on the pop culture landscape the past several years, Powell was a cast member on the first season of MTV's The Real World. He hosted and produced programming for HBO and BET; wrote a screenplay; and hosted and wrote an award-winning MTV documentary about post-riot Los Angeles. He was also the Guest Curator of the Brooklyn Museum of Art's "Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes, and Rage" - the first major exhibit in America on the history of hip-hop - at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.

Of paramount importance to Powell is his activism. He has been a leader for more than 20 years, dating to his days at Rutgers. He was a participant in the student-led anti-apartheid movement, the drive to end racism in South Africa. He has also worked for years on the issue of voting rights.

Powell has taught, mentored, and counseled in schools, camps, prisons and on the streets of urban America. He produces an annual holiday party and clothing drive every December in New York City to benefit the needy, and was a central figure in Gulf Coast disaster relief efforts, facilitating the delivery of goods and services to the affected regions, and being a co-founder of "Katrina on the Ground," an initiative that sent over 700 college students to work in the devastated region.

For more information, call 477-1161.