Day-long portrayals of eight historic black leaders to lead off BCC’s Black History Month celebration

BELLEVUE, WASH.– Members of Bellevue Community College’s Multi-Cultural Services Student Leadership Club will assume the identities of eight major figures from African-American history on Monday, Feb. 6, playing their roles all day as they move about the BCC main campus and interact with other students.

Intended to highlight the contributions and impact of leaders in African-American history, the portrayals are one of the first events in a month-long series of activities the club has planned in celebration of Black History Month at BCC.

The historic figures being represented and the students portraying them are: Rosa Parks (FiFi Gebre-Kiros), Angela Davis (Tonia Washington), Maya Angelou (Melantha Jenkins), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Ronnie Fontenot), Malcolm X (Melvin Jenkins), Huey P. Newton (Robel Acbazgi), August Wilson (Mike Arish) and Fannie Lou Hamer (Ilays Aden).

Other Black History Month activities – all free of charge, open to the public and held on BCC’s main campus (3000 Landerholm Circle S.E., Bellevue) – include the following:

•	“Eyes on the Prize,” a Public Broadcasting series which many believe to be the most comprehensive television documentary ever produced on the American civil rights movement, will be presented and discussed over seven days from Monday, Feb. 13 through Thursday, Feb. 23. Seven episodes will be presented on the following schedule, in the cafeteria in the C Building (student union):
	-	Mon., Feb. 13: 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
	-	Tues., Feb. 14: 10:30 a.m. – 12 noon
	-	Wed., Feb. 15: 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
	-	Thurs., Feb. 16: 10:30 a.m. – 12 noon
	-	Tues., Feb. 21: 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
	-	Wed., Feb. 22: 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
	-	Thurs., Feb. 23: 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
•	“Our Cultures Fashion Show,” a presentation of African and African-American dress, including fashions from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and the U.S., will take place Thursday, Feb. 16, from 12:15 – 12:45 p.m. in the C Building cafeteria.
•	Alfoster Garrett, former president and vice president of the Seattle-King County branch of the NAACP, will speak on African-American issues on Wednesday, Feb. 22, from 10:30 to 11:20 a.m. in room C120 (in the C Building).
•	“From African Drums to the Trumpets of Jazz,” a concert featuring the Kuttin Up Dance Group and the Young Lions Jazz Band, will be held Tuesday, Feb. 28, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., in C Building cafeteria.

The 25-member Multi-Cultural Services Student Leadership Club is led by students Jonathan Woldaub and Tonia Washington, who also are co-chairing the Black History Month celebration.

Serving more than 35,000 students per year, Bellevue Community College is the third largest institution of higher learning in Washington state. BCC offers associate degrees and certificates in the traditional arts, humanities and sciences, as well as information technology, telecommunications, business, health sciences, social sciences, educational development and numerous other professional and technical fields.

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