Friday, January 20, 2006

Wilmington, N.C. - Benjamin Chavis Muhammad will be the keynote speaker at an event to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Wilmington Ten at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 1 at Gregory Congregational United Church of Christ in downtown Wilmington.

He will also visit the campus of University of North Carolina Wilmington to talk with students at 2 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 2 in the Warwick Center Ballroom.

These events are being co-sponsored by the African American Heritage Foundation of Wilmington, Inc., UNCW, the Upperman African American Cultural Center, Office of Campus Diversity, Academic Outreach, Office of the Provost and the Gregory Congregational United Church of Christ.

The Wilmington Ten refers to racial unrest that occurred after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and forced integration which caused upheaval in Wilmington high schools. Hostilities reached a boiling point in February 1971 when Wilmington's African-American students announced a boycott of the city's schools. They invited Chavis to assist with the organization of their efforts. He was one of 10 people arrested on conspiracy and arson charges and spent nearly a decade in prison until the charges were overturned in 1980.

Chavis, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, was born Jan. 22, 1948, in Oxford, NC. He received a B.A. in chemistry from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the Master of Divinity degree from Duke University and the Doctor of Ministry degree from Howard University. In 1993, he was elected executive director and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He helped organize the Million Man March in 1995.

In 1997, Chavis joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Benjamin Chavis Muhammad. He currently serves as the president and CEO of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN), which he co-founded with rap music mogul Russell Simmons.

Gregory Congregational United Church of Christ is located at 609 Nun St. in downtown Wilmington. Tickets are free and required for admission. They are available by calling Gregory at 910.763.8513.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Hines, UNCW associate professor of geography, at 910.962.3012, hinese@uncw.edu or Reverend Hudson Barksdale, senior pastor, Gregory Congregational United Church of Christ, at 910.763.8513, gregcucc@aol.com.

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