Alcorn’s School of Arts and Sciences holds Read-In Seminar Series

Alcorn’s School of Arts and Sciences holds Read-In Seminar Series

Alcorn State University students, faculty and staff members gathered to acknowledge the importance of reading.

The School of Arts and Sciences presented an African-American Read-In as part of their monthly seminar series Thursday, Feb. 19 in the Math and Science Building. The event was part of the National African American Read-In, which is sponsored by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English. The read-in was dedicated to the memory of civil rights activist Anne Moody, author of Coming of Age in Mississippi, who died on Feb. 5, 2015.

Dr. J. Janice Coleman, professor in the Department of English and Foreign Languages and event coordinator, wishes that other departments at Alcorn would adopt the idea stressing the significance of reading.

“I hope the read-in catches on in other departments here at Alcorn,” said Coleman. “To my knowledge, two other faculty members in other departments are thinking about coordinating such an event before this semester ends.”

Nearly thirty students, faculty, and staff members read works by writers such as Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Cecil Brown, and RuNett Nia Ebo. Senior and English major Evelyn Dogan, who read Ntozake Shange’s “Pyramid,” wanted to expose her peers to a poet who was unfamiliar to them.

“Because Shange is lesser known than most African-American poets, I wanted to read this poem as a way to acquaint other students with this author so her voice could be heard,” said Dogan, who is a native of Greenville, Miss.

Jamal Broughton, a senior, physical therapy major from Atlanta, Ga., reflected on some of the poems and authors that caught his attention during the read-in.

“Langston Hughes is one of my favorite authors,” said Broughton. “Harlem and A Dream Deferred are two of my favorite poems because it reminds us not to give up on our dreams.”