NEWS RELEASE

 

For Immediate Release – March 2, 2015

Nassau Community College PresentsSelma to Ferguson: The State of America

 

March 25 

 

Garden City, NY – Nassau Community College will present Selma to Ferguson: The State of America, on Wednesday, March 25 at 12:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the College Center Building.  (download hi res image)

Kevin Powell, a political activist, poet, journalist and hip-hop historian, will present Selma to Ferguson: The State of America. A native of Jersey City, Powell was raised by a single mother in extreme poverty. He studied at Rutgers University and has gone on to be the author of 11 books, including Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, and the Ghost of Dr. King: Blogs and Essays. Among his upcoming books is his memoir of a very difficult childhood, to be released later this year. Powell's writings have also appeared in CNN.com, Esquire, Ebony, The Washington Post and Rolling Stone. For many years, he worked as a senior writer at Vibe Magazine, where he interviewed such diverse figures as Tupac Shakur and General Colin Powell.

As an activist, Powell is the president and co-founder of BK Nation, a new national, progressive, multicultural organization focused on such issues as education, civic engagement, leadership training, and job and small business creation. He was also a Democratic candidate for Congress from Brooklyn in 2008 and 2010.

Powell routinely travels as a public speaker. Some of his recent engagements have been at Microsoft, Stanford University, the U.S. Department of Justice and a one-week residency at the American University of Nigeria. He was also the Hip-Hop Scholar in Residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and was named the International Ambassador for the Dylan Thomas Centennial in America for 2014. On behalf of the U.S. State Department, Powell toured Japan lecturing on the relevance of Dr. King's famous "I have a dream" speech in the 21st century.

Cornell University recently became the owner of the Kevin Powell Collection, documenting nearly 30 years of his work to date, in print, photos, videos, books, handwritten notes, speeches and selected memorabilia.

For more information about Selma to Ferguson: The State of America, which is free, open to the public and accessible to the disabled, call 516.572.7148.

Media ContactAlicia Steger 516.572.9634alicia.steger@ncc.eduncc.edu/newsreleases

About Nassau Community College Nassau Community College, part of the State University of New York, is an institution where nearly 22,000 full- and part-time students and approximately 10,000 continuing and professional students start and continue their successful journey through higher education. More than 70 fields of study are offered on a 225-acre campus located in the center of Long Island. As the largest single-campus two-year college in New York State, Nassau Community College maintains a national reputation for excellence. For more information, visit www.ncc.edu.

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