Everyone is welcome to join the SKYCTC campus community on Wednesday, Feb.5 at 9:30 a.m. for the 8th Annual African American Read-In featuring filmmaker, radio journalist, and applied folklorist Lamont Pearley.
This event will be held on the college’s main campus at 1845 Loop Drive in Bowling Green in the Building F conference room and will be live-streamed to other SKY campus locations. This event is free and open to the community.
African American Read-Ins highlight the importance of reading and literacy in the on-going struggle for equality. Read-Ins are a celebration of the many genres and types of written texts created by African American authors.
This year’s featured speaker is Mr. Lamont Jack Pearley, who is the Executive Director and Founder of Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation. Pearley is an award-winning Independent Filmmaker and radio journalist. Pearley is an applied folklorist, ethnographer, African American traditional music historian, and practitioner enrolled at Western Kentucky University in the Graduate Folk Studies program.
The founder and Editor in Chief of the African American Folklorist Magazine, Pearley also hosts a weekly segment on WKU Public Radio & NPR called the African American Folklorist.
He was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame as Great Blues Historian and TV/Radio Producer (2017) and Great Blues Artist (2018). Pearley works in Folklore's academic and public sectors, where his expertise assists communities and local advocacies to document their stories and strategize and implement long-term goals for cultural sustainability.
Students, faculty, staff, and community members are encouraged to share poems or short passages from their favorite African American authors. Readers can volunteer during the open session of the event.
This event is sponsored by the SKYCTC Diversity Committee and is an official event of the National Council of Teachers of English.
For more information, contact Associate Professor Leah Wendt at leah.wendt@kctcs.edu or 270-901-1191, or Instructor Amanda Krimmer at amanda.krimmer@kctcs.edu or 270-901-1134.