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Center for Multicultural Education

In this Issue: Message from the Coordinator Page 1 Black History Month Icon Page 2 Women’s History Month Icon Page 3 SPRING 2016 ISSUE Asian/Pacific Islander Month Icon Page 4

Message from the Coordinator

My name is Latoya Fitzpatrick, and I am the Coordinator in the Center for Multicultural Education here at Missouri Western State University. We are thrilled to have you be a part of our campus & STAFF: community. I wanted to give you an overview of the Center for Multicultural Education. We are here to Latoya Fitzpatrick serve you by maintaining an open door policy, assisting Coordinator you in finding campus resources to help you be successful, supporting and advising student groups, and encouraging student involvement Alexis Williams and leadership opportunities. We strive to educate students through Program Assistant programming, community involvement, and educational workshops. We recognize our students come from diverse backgrounds, which help to Dana Heldenbrand enhance the educational experience of all students on our campus. We Administrative Coordinator invite all students to connect with our office through an office visit, a phone call, social media interactions, or an email.

For further questions or information, stop by the Center for CONTACT INFORMATION: Multicultural Education on the second floor of the Nelle Blum Union, Room 210. I can be reached by phone at (816) 271-4150 or via email at Center for [email protected]. Our hours of operation are Monday – Friday Multicultural Education from 8:00 am until 4:30 pm. I have also included a brochure to provide Nelle Blum Student Union 210 you further information about our department.

(816) 271-4150 Sincerely, [email protected] Latoya Fitzpatrick www.facebook.com/cme.mwsu : @mwsu_cme Instagram: @mwsu_cme Black History Month Icon: Ida B. Wells-Barnett Born a slave in 1862, This injustice led Ida B. Wells Spring 2016 Ida Bell Wells was the to write about issues of race Upcoming Events oldest daughter of James and politics in the South. and Lizzie Wells. The Using the moniker “Iola,” a Jan. 19: MLK Information Table, 11am, Wells family, as well as number of her articles were Blum Union the rest of the slaves of published in black newspapers Jan. 20: MLK Banquet, 6pm, the Confederate states, and periodicals. Wells Enright 214-216 were decreed free by the eventually became an owner of Union, about six months the Memphis Free Speech and Jan. 21: “Selma, Lord, Selma” movie, 6pm after Ida’s birth, thanks Headlight, and, later, of the Spratt 101 to the Emancipation Free Speech. Jan. 22: MLK Week Candlelight Vigil, 7pm, Proclamation. However, Kelley Commons living in as In 1892, three African- Jan. 26: Meet the World, 4pm, African , they faced racial American men—Tom Moss, Calvin Blum 218-219 prejudices and were restricted by McDowell and Will Stewart—set discriminatory rules and practices. up a grocery store in Memphis. One Feb. 1: “Because of Them We Can” Photo night, Moss and the others guarded Shoot, 5pm, Blum 222-223 Ida B. Wells’s parents were active in the their store against attack and ended up Feb. 3: Comfort Food Wednesday, Republican Party during Reconstruction. shooting several of the white vandals. 11am-1pm, Blum Union Cafeteria Her father, James, was involved with They were arrested and brought to jail, Feb. 9: Charles Drew Blood Drive, the Freedman’s Aid Society and helped but they didn’t have a chance to defend 11am-5pm, Blum 218-219 start Shaw University, a school for the themselves against the charges—a lynch newly freed slaves (now Rust College) mob took them from their cells and Feb. 10: Intercultural Intimate Relationships, and served on the first board of trustees. murdered them. These brutal killings 4pm, 218-219 It was there that Ida B. Wells received incensed Wells, leading to her write Feb. 10: Rudy Currence in Concert, 7pm, her early schooling, but she had to articles decrying the of her Spratt 101 drop out at the age of 16, when tragedy friend and the wrongful deaths of other Feb. 18: Global Hot Topic Series, 4pm, struck her family. Both of her parents . Spratt 203 and one of her siblings died in a yellow fever outbreak, leaving Wells to care Working on behalf of all women, Feb. 19: Tim Wise at UMKC, 9am-2pm, for her other siblings. Ever resourceful, Wells, as part of her work with the *Transportation provided* she convinced a nearby country school National Equal Rights League, called Feb. 23: Black Heritage Ball, 6pm, administrator that she was 18, and for President Woodrow Wilson to put Blum 218-219 landed a job as a teacher. an end to discriminatory hiring practices Mar. 8: “The Mask You Live In,” 6pm, for government jobs. She created the Blum 218-219 In 1882, Wells moved with her sisters first African-American kindergarten to Memphis, Tennessee, to live with in her community and fought for Mar. 9: Stiletto Stomp, 7pm, Blum 218-219 an aunt. On one fateful train ride from women’s suffrage. In 1930, Wells Mar. 10: Girls Rock, 7pm, Blum 218-219 Memphis to Nashville, in May 1884, made an unsuccessful bid for the state Wells reached a personal turning point. senate. Health problems plagued her Apr. 6: Safe Zone Training, 2pm-5pm, Having bought a first-class train ticket the following year. Ida B. Wells died of Blum 222-223 to Nashville, she was outraged when kidney disease on March 25, 1931, at the Apr. 12: Confronting Insensitive Language & the train crew ordered her to move to age of 69, in , Illinois. Comments, 6pm, Blum 222-223 the car for African Americans, and April 24: Praise Dance Festival, 4:30pm, refused on principle. As she was forcibly Taken from: http://www.biography.com/ Spratt 101 removed from the train, she bit one of people/ida-b-wells-9527635 the men on the hand. Wells sued the April 26: Stand Against Racism: Charlene railroad, winning a $500 settlement in a Carruthers, 7pm, Spratt 101 circuit court case. However, the decision May 3: Multicultural Graduate Dinner, was later overturned by the Tennessee 5:30pm, Enright 214-216 Supreme Court.

22 2016 Religious & Women’s History Month Icon: Cultural Calendar Jan. 1: (Cultural Celebration) Oprah Gail Winfrey was ideal weight of around 150 Jan. 1: New Year’s Day (Holiday) born on , 1954, pounds) and competed in the Jan. 5: Birth of Guru Gobind Singh (Sikh) in Kosciusko, Mississippi. in Jan. 6: Epiphany (Christian) After a troubled Washington, D.C., in 1995. Jan. 7: Feast of Nativity (Christian) adolescence in a small Jan. 15: Makar Sankranti (Hindu) Jan. 16: Religious Day (Celebration) farming community, With the debut in 1999 of Jan. 17: World Religion Day (Celebration) where she was sexually Oxygen Media, a company Jan. 18: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Celebration) abused by a number she co-founded that is Jan. 24-27: Mahayana New Year (Buddhist) of male relatives and dedicated to producing cable Jan. 24-25: Tu B’Shvat (Jewish) friends of her mother, and Internet programming for All February: Black History Month (Cultural Vernita, she moved to women, Winfrey ensured her Celebration) Nashville to live with place in the forefront of the Feb. 2: Candlemas (Christian) her father, Vernon, a media industry and as one of Feb. 5-10: Carnival (Cultural Celebration) barber and businessman. She entered the most powerful and wealthy people Feb. 8: Lunar New Year (Cultural Celebration) Tennessee State University in 1971 and in show business. Her highly successful Feb. 8: Mana Shivaratri (Hindu) began working in radio and television monthly, O: The Oprah Magazine debuted Feb. 9: Shrove Tuesday (Christian) broadcasting. in 2000. Feb. 10: Ash Wednesday (Christian) Feb. 15: Parinirvana/Nirvana Day (Buddhist) In 1976, Oprah Winfrey moved to In 2009, Oprah Winfrey announced Feb. 23: Purim Katan (Jewish) , Maryland, where she hosted that she would be ending her program All March: Women’s History Month (Cultural the TV chat show People Are Talking. when her contract with ABC ended, Celebration) The show became a hit and Winfrey in 2011. Soon after, she moved to Mar. 15: Rama Navami (Hindu) stayed with it for eight years, after which her own network, the Oprah Winfrey Mar. 17: St. Patrick’s Day (Cultural Celebration) she was recruited by a Chicago TV Network, a joint venture with Discovery Mar. 20: Palm Sunday (Christian) station to host her own morning show, Communications. Mar. 23: Ta’anit Esther/Fast of Esther (Jewish) A.M. Chicago. Within several months, Mar. 23: Holi (Hindu) Mar. 23: Magha Puja/Sangha Day (Buddhist) Winfrey’s open, warm-hearted personal In 1994, President Clinton signed a bill Mar. 24: Hola Mohalla (Sikh) style had taken her show from last place into law that Winfrey had proposed to Mar. 24: Purim (Jewish) to first in the ratings. Her success led to Congress, creating a nationwide database Mar. 24: Maundy Thursday (Christian) nationwide fame and a role in Steven of convicted child abusers. She also Mar. 25: Annunciation (Christian) Spielberg’s 1985 film , founded the Family for Better Lives Mar. 25: Shushan Purim (Jewish) for which she was nominated for an foundation. In September 2002, Oprah Mar. 25: Good Friday (Christian) Academy Award for Best Supporting was named the first recipient of the Mar. 27: Easter (Christian) Actress. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Apr. 8: Ugadi/Yugadi (Hindu) Humanitarian Award. Apr. 8: Hana Matsuri (Buddhist) Winfrey launched the Oprah Winfrey Apr. 8: Hindu New Year (Hindu) Show in 1986 as a nationally syndicated Winfrey campaigned for Democratic Apr. 8-15: Ramayana (Hindu) program. With its placement on 120 presidential hopeful in Apr. 13: Baisakhi/Vaisakhi (Sikh) channels and an audience of 10 million December 2007, attracting the largest Apr. 15: Ramanavami (Hindu) people, the show grossed $125 million by crowds of the primary season to that Apr. 21: Fast of the Firstborn (Jewish) the end of its first year. She soon gained point. It was the first time Winfrey Apr. 22-23: Theravada New Year (Buddhist) ownership of the program from ABC, had ever campaigned for a political Apr. 22: Hanuman Jayanti (Hindu) drawing it under the control of her new candidate. Apr. 23-30: Pesach/Passover (Jewish) production company, May 4-5: Yom Hashoah (Jewish) (‘Oprah’ spelled backwards). In November 2013, Winfrey received May 5: Ascension Day (Christian) the nation’s highest civilian honor, May 5: Cinco de Mayo (Cultural Celebration) Her projects with Harpo have included the Presidential Medal of Freedom. May 5: Lailat al Miraj (Muslim) the highly rated 1989 TV miniseries, President Barack Obama gave her May 8: Mother’s Day (Cultural Celebration) The Women of Brewster Place, which she this award for her contributions to her May 11-12: Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Jewish) also starred in. Winfrey, who became country. May 15: Visakha Puja (Buddhist) almost as well-known for her weight May 15: Pentacost (Christian) loss efforts as for her , lost an Taken from: http://www.biography.com/ May 21: Lailat al Bara’ah (Muslim) estimated 90 pounds (dropping to her people/oprah-winfrey-9534419 May 26: Lag B’Omer (Jewish) 3 Asian/Pacific Islander Icon: Judge Lance Ito

Lance Ito was born in Another notable experience , , of this period occurred at 2016 Campus on August 2, 1950. His a murder scene Ito was life and career would studying. He met and started a Dates be molded by a life- relationship with Los Angeles changing experience his homicide detective Margaret Jan 4: Campus Re-opens parents went through York, and the two were married Jan 12: Walk-In Registration during WWII, when they a few months later. (York went were among the more on to become the chief of the Jan 18: Martin Luther King Day (no classes/ than 10,000 Japanese Los Angeles County Police.) campus closed) Americans interned at the Heart Mountain In 1989, after steadily climbing Jan 19: Classes Begin Relocation Camp in the the legal ladder, Ito was Jan 20: Federal Work-Study Disbursement months following Japan’s bombing of appointed to the L.A. County Superior Pearl Harbor. Ito has said that the unjust Court. And then, six years later, came Jan 29: 1st Financial Aid Disbursement experience his parents endured, and the trial of O.J. Simpson for the murder the philosophical way they handled it, of and Ron Feb 5: 1nd Business Office Disbursement affected his sense of fairness and ability to Goldman, a case that would capture the (Refund Check) cope with adversity, outlooks that steered attention of the entire country. With Feb 15: President’s Day (classes in session/ him through his years as a lawyer and attorneys posturing on both sides, Ito’s campus open) judge. patience and cool head presided over the events as they became part of a Feb 19: 1st Time Freshman Borrower 30 Day Ito attended UCLA, where the political national obsession broadcast live from the Delay Financial Aid Disbursement science major embraced the late-1960s courtroom. Ito himself became part of the Feb 20: Federal Work Study Disbursement counterculture that stood against the conversation as he steered the proceedings Vietnam War, growing his hair long through a complicated media frenzy Feb 26: 1st Time Freshman Borrower 30 Day and attending protests. He graduated in that only intensified when Simpson Delay Business Office Disbursement (Refund 1972 and enrolled at the University of was eventually found not guilty—live in Check) California, Berkeley, Law School. He left front of 150 million TV viewers—of the Berkeley three years later, law degree in murders. After the Simpson trial, Ito went Mar 13-20: Spring Break (no classes/campus hand, and entered private practice, where on to oversee nearly 500 others before open) he remained for only a few years. retiring in 2015. In 2016, Ito will be a Mar 20: Federal Work Study Disbursement featured character in the 2016 miniseries Ito joined the L.A. district attorney’s : The People v O.J. Mar 23: Mid-Term Grades Due office in 1977 and worked in some of the Simpson. toughest areas available: the Hardcore Mar 25: 2nd Financial Aid Disbursement Gang Division, the Organized Crime and Taken from: http://www.biography.com/ Apr 1: Last Day to Withdraw Anti-Terrorist Division and a division people/lance-ito-011216 that focused on serial killers. Apr 1: 2nd Business Office Disbursement (Refund Check) His work ethic and skills led him to Apr 4: Registration Begins for Summer/Fall a promotion, and in 1981 Ito became special assistant to the chief deputy DA. Apr 20: Federal Work Study Disbursement Apr 29: Last Day of Classes Apr 30-May 6: Final Exams May 7: Commencement May 10: Final Grades Due

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