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SAN BERNARDINO, CA- The San Bernardino Public Library will host a program for Black History Month on Wednesday, February 22 at 10:30 a.m. in the Bing Wong Auditorium at the Feldheym Central Library located at 555 W. 6th Street. Teacher, Spoken Word artist, and West African dancer Makeda Kumasi, will present “Drum Song” an adaption of an African American fable which includes drum and dance. She will also present “An Audience with Rosa Parks” immediately following “Drum Song”.
Playing Rosa Parks, Kumasi takes the audience on an historical journey that includes the significance of African American Symbols of the Underground Railroad, the Civil Rights Movement, and the day she was arrested for not giving up her seat to a Caucasian bus rider.
Makeda Kumasi is the founder of The Umoja Ensemble of the Inland Empire and Co-founder of WE 3 PRODUCTIONS. Currently she teaches West African Dance at the University of California, Riverside. She has a Masters of Education from the University of Phoenix and a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California. Kumasi received numerous awards, recognitions and scholarships including the Phyllis E Williams’ Artist Grant 2006, Top Spoken Word Artist Black Business Expo Urban Idol 2004, Ida Mae Holland Playwrights Award 2001, and California Art Scholar for Dance in 1993. Kumasi is a featured Spoken Word Artist and West African Dancer who has performed across the nation including, The World Stage in Leimert Park Village, LA; the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood, CA; and the Ogdensburg Theater in NY. As a poet she has also been featured on MTV’s Starting Over and BET’s Fly Poet.
The program is scheduled in the morning to accommodate elementary schools, but is also open to the general public. This free program is sponsored by the Friends of the San Bernardino Public Library.
For more information call 909.381.8238 or visit www.sbpl.org or www.facebook.com/SBPLfriends.
