An Evening with Charlotte Hill O’Neal
Vocalist, writer and visual artist Charlotte Hill O’Neal will visit Susquehanna’s campus for an engaging evening on Monday, March 22. O’Neal, who is also known as Mama C, will introduce a screening of the film, A Panther in Africa, then lead a question and answer session afterwards. She will close out the night with a community jam session, performing with local and student musicians. Refreshments will be served starting at 6 p.m. in Charlie’s Coffeehouse.
Attendees will receive an abundance of information on how to get involved in their own communities, start up programs, and collaborate with other groups to achieve community goals. The evening will also offer a new perspective on American history and the social movements of the 1960s.
About the Speaker
Charlotte Hill O’Neal has been performing professionally for more than twenty years and exhibiting her art work extensively since 1986. She was born in Kansas City, Kansas, but left the U.S. at age 19 to live and work in Africa. She has lived in Tanzania since 1972.
O’Neal is co-director of the United African Alliance Community Center (UAACC), which was founded by her husband, Pete O’Neal. The center provides classes in various subjects for the AruMeru Community outside of Arusha, Tanzania.
O'Neal was greatly influenced in her early years by the jazz, blues and gospel for which Kansas City is famous. As a visual artist she continues to exhibit her work around the world and as a poet and vocalist she has performed yearly since 1995, during the UAACC Heal the Community tour in cities and universities across America.
About the Film
The tumultuous period known as "the '60s" continues to cast a long shadow across the contemporary American experience. Few, if any, of the seminal conflicts that drove the era — civil rights, war and peace, racism, women's liberation — have been fully resolved today. Nor have all the key players in that national drama been tried, pardoned, punished, vindicated, or even allowed to come home.
A Panther in Africa, a new documentary having its national broadcast premiere on public television's POV series, is the story of Pete O'Neal, one of the last exiles from the time of Black Power, when young rebels advocated black pride, unity, community service and sometimes, violence. Facing gun charges in Kansas City in 1970, O'Neal fled to Algeria, where he joined other Panther exiles. Unlike the others, however, O'Neal never found his way back to America. He moved on to Tanzania, where for over 30 years he has struggled to continue his life of social activism — and to hold on to his identity as an African-American.
From pbs.org. Read the full review.
Event Sponsors
Susquehanna University's Department of History, International Studies Program, Sigma Gamma Rho Center for Diversity and Social Justice, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Organization of Sociology and Anthropology Students (OSAS), Diversity Studies Program, Women’s Studies Program and Office of the Chief Diversity Officer.
Monday, March 22
6 p.m.
Charlie’s Coffeehouse
Published on March 22, 2010
