UC San Diego Literature Professor Dennis Childs, director of the African American Studies Minor (AASM) in the newly created Institute of Arts and Humanities, is one of just five faculty recipients to win a Consortium Public Events Curatorship Grant in Black Studies from the Consortium for Black Studies in California. The $2,500 funding is being used to host recently released black political prisoner, Sekou Abdullah Odinga and Dr. Johanna Fernández, professor in the Department of History at Baruch College in New York City.
Sekou Odinga was inspired by the revolutionary principles of Malcolm X when he joined X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), followed later by membership in the Black Panther Party (BPP) and Black Liberation Army (BLA). He is a Muslim, a citizen of the Republic of New Afrika and for 33 years was a U.S. held political Prisoner of War (POW). He was released on parole in November 2014 from the New York State penitentiary.
Dr. Johanna Fernández, professor of history at New York City’s Baruch College where she teaches 20th-century U.S. History, the history of social movements, the political economy of American cities and African-American History. She has written and produced a film dealing with the case of Black political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal entitled, “Justice on Trial: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal” (2010).
This panel discussion is made possible through financial support from the Consortium for Black Studies in California. This featured program is scheduled for February 3, 2016 at the Malcolm X Library in Southeast San Diego (the city’s historical Black neighborhood) as well as February 4, 2016, at UC San Diego. For more information, please visit the AASM’s website.
