UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 19, Page 12
February 8, 1996
African Consciousness Celebration to begin Feb. 9

     Now More Than Ever Brothers and Sisters Must Come Together" is
the theme of the 1996 African Consciousness Celebration, planned
throughout February at the University.
     The celebration begins at 7 p.m., Friday, Feb. 9, with a free
public performance by One Soul Dance Expression in Pearson Hall. An
opening reception is planned in conjunction with the performance.
     One Soul Dance Expression is an innovative group of young women,
ages 16-21, who incorporate dance forms of Africa to Hip-Hop, creating
a style that is uniquely their own. The group, which is the brainchild
of dancer and choreographer Denise Richards, made its debut at the
Kennedy Center in 1993.
     On Monday, Feb. 12, Ralph T. Grant, veteran of the Civil Rights
movement, will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Rodney Room of the Perkins
Student Center. The event, co-sponsored by Kappa Alpha Psi, is free
and open to the public.
     Grant is Distinguished Professor of Management at the New Jersey
Institute of Technology and a consultant trainer for Lifeskills, the
Leaguers Inc., Head Start Program of Newark, N.J.
     In the 1950s and 1960s, he worked on many programs with the late
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also has served as principal of a
private school and as a professor of public administration at Shaw
University, St. John's University and Fairleigh Dickinson University.
     Grant served as an elective official in Newark, N.J., for 16
years and prior to that was the executive director of the Newark Human
Rights Commission, the Action Now Citizen Action Service, the Summer
Program for Economically Disadvantaged Youth, the Urban Youth
Foundation and chairman of Total Employment and Man Power.
     Grant is known for his total commitment to excellence in
education. He is an active mentor and volunteer at Harriet Tubman
Elementary School, which, in part due to his legislative efforts,
enjoys academic success rates unequal to most urban-based, poverty-
stricken neighborhoods.
     Additionally, his efforts in promoting and ensuring higher
education for disadvantaged students has led to more than 2,000 Newark
City students entering his alma mater, Shaw University.
     Grant is the founder of Fathers Against Drugs and of New Jersey's
African-American Heritage Parade. Additionally, he is the host and
executive producer of The Grant Report, a local television show.
     The UD African Consciousness Celebration, which continues in
March, is sponsored by the Center for Black Culture Programming
Advisory Board, the Office of Affirmative Action and Multicultural
Programs, the Black Student Union and the NAACP.
     For more information, call 831-2991.
                                                          -Beth Thomas