Black History Month at MCC

To kick off Black History Month, Middlesex County College (MCC) welcomed Dr. Lenworth Gunther, a motivational speaker, historian, author, educator and celebrated corporate consultant. The month-long event started with Gunther giving his lecture titled "Slavery to Obama and Beyond: A Historical Perspective," on Feb. 8 inside Cafeteria C of the College Center from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. First, MCC World African Nation President Justin Haygood opened the lecture by introducing the guest host and running down a list of his accomplishments. Gunther grew up with Jamaican roots living a large portion of his life in Harlem, New York, before moving to New Jersey. He went on to Columbia University, where he earned his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees in American History with specialties in African American, West African and Russian studies. He helped prepare Columbia University's first African American history course. Gunther also taught Public Speaking and African, Caribbean, and African American studies from 1971 to 2006 at a number of different schools in New Jersey including Drew University, Farleigh Dickinson University, Rutgers University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Ramapo College and Essex County College. Gunther regularly appears on radio, television and in print. He produced and hosted a cable television talk show called "Impact". His writings include articles on African American life and books such as "The New Jersey African American History Curriculum Guide for High School", "Black Image" and "Flaming Tongue: The Rise of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr." In the early 1980's, Gunther served on the East Orange Board of Education in New Jersey, founded a college relief fund for the needy, and for the past 42 years has been a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, the first African-American national fraternal organization to be founded at a historically black college. In Cafeteria C, Gunther lectured a room of over a hundred people. He spoke about slavery from other countries, our youth, education, present, past and future generations, famous antislavery citizens who don't receive the proper recognition, problems with today's young black Americans and the recent earthquake in Haiti. "Education is about motion and change," he said. "Looking at the students and seeing they have something to bring. The great teacher inspires his or her students. "My generations and others have taken advantage of the youth," he said, "Listening is the greatest skill, not talking." When discussing President Obama, Gunther kept telling the audience to give him a chance to lead. He reminded everyone that when he took office he said it was going to take time to solve the huge debt that he inherited from the previous administration. "[Obama] said 'yes we can'," he said. "Not 'yes I can'. You don't become president by just saying 'yes we can.' History will show Obama as a leader. Give him time to show us. He was elected on the dreams and aspirations of others. We don't hold our leaders accountable. We have to hold Obama and all politicians responsible. We must dare to be unique and different…History is a process, not an event," he said. "The event was empowering and uplifting," said Haygood. "It opened my eyes to our society and future societies to come." Throughout the rest of February, the College Center will be hosting several events that relate to Black History Month. Among these are a jazz performance featuring Keith Marks, nine movies to be shown in College Center, a theater trip to see "Memphis", South Africa's dance and song juxtapower, and more. For information on all the events, visit the Student Activities Center in College Center.