February
1 , 2002
Lincoln University Celebrates
the Legacy of Renowned Poet and
1929 Alumnus Langston Hughes on Feb. 7
Stamp Unveiling and
Theatrical Performances Will Mark the Occasion
Lincoln
University will host two events on Thursday, February
7, 2002 to mark what would have been the 100th birthday
of world-renowned poet and 1929 Lincoln alumnus Langston
Hughes and his literary accomplishments.
At
1 p.m., in the lobby of the Langston Hughes Memorial Library,
President Ivory V. Nelson and U.S. Postal Service Lancaster
(Pa.) District Manager Michael Benson will preside over
the unveiling of a new stamp created to commemorate Hughes.
The
34-cent, first-class stamp, which features a black and
white photograph of a youthful Hughes in New York City,
is the 25th stamp in the Post Office's Black Heritage
series. It marks the series' 25th anniversary. Other similarly
honored African-American historical figures include 1964
Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; slain
civil rights activist Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz);
pioneering aviator Bessie Coleman, who became the first
woman to obtain an international aviator's license; and
journalist Ida B. Wells who unstintingly reported on the
gruesome cases of lynching in the United States.
The
Postal Service will set up a station from noon to 2 p.m.
to make stamps as well as special souvenir cards available
for sale. For further information, contact 610-932-1090
or visit Lincoln's Web site at www.lincoln.edu.
In
tribute, Assistant Professor of Music Doris M. Mayes will
perform a three-part selection title "Three Dream Portraits"
written by Margaret Bond with lyrics by Langston Hughes.
Hughes wrote the lyrics to the three parts: "Minstrel
Man," "Dream Variation" and "I, Too." Prof. Mayes is the
Artist in Residence at Lincoln's Music Department and
teaches voice.
After
the unveiling, the Jahannes Company will perform "Sweet
Flypaper, Dream Variations and Tambourines to Glory: Celebrating
the Centennial of Langston Hughes '29" at 2 p.m., in the
Mary Dod Brown Memorial Chapel. Another performance will
be held at 7:30 p.m. The stamp unveiling and the performances
are just two of the multitude of special events being
held this year to salute the literary giant.
The
stamp will also be unveiled on Friday, Feb. 1 at the Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture in New York, N.Y.
On the same day, the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum
in Washington, D.C. will open an exhibit on Hughes' life
and work. It will run until August 2, 2002. Hughes' stamp
is also the second installment in the Postal Museum's
"Stamps with Personality" series. The first was baseball
legend Roberto Clemente. Missouri native Langston Hughes
(1902-1967) came to Lincoln in 1926 after writing his
first book, "The Weary Blues." He was equally gifted in
writing poetry, plays and fiction and his writing spans
the gamut of those genres. Some of his most popular works
include the play "Black Nativity" and the poem "I, Too,
Sing America." One of the young artists of the 1920s Harlem
Renaissance, Hughes' literary contemporaries included
James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay.
Founded
in 1854, Lincoln University is a premier, Historically
Black University that combines the best elements of a
liberal arts and sciences-based undergraduate core curriculum
and selected graduate programs to meet the needs of students
living in a highly technological and global society.
Lincoln University is ranked first in Pennsylvania and
second in the nation in graduating African Americans with
baccalaureate degrees in the physical sciences. Lincoln
is also the only university in the Commonwealth and one
of but 20 universities nationwide where 40 percent or
more of its physics graduates are women. * * * *
