Source: Valerie Coltharp, 785-539-8763, val@tryufm.org
News release prepared by: Andy Badeker, 785-532-6415, abadeker@k-state.edu
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST TO DELIVER K-STATE LOU DOUGLAS LECTURE SEPT. 18
MANHATTAN -- Loretta Ross, who for 30 years has pursued social justice and equality for women of color, will lecture on "Bringing Human Rights Home" as part of Kansas State University's Lou Douglas Lecture Series on Public Issues.
The lecture will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18, in the K-State Student Union's Forum Hall.
Ross' most recent post is that of national coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective. It was founded in 1997 to advance the reproductive concerns of women, particularly Native Americans, Arab-Americans, Pacific Islanders, Latinas and African-Americans. It is based in Atlanta.
Her presentation, the first in this fall's series of Lou Douglas series, will cover eight categories of human rights and the documents and laws that provide these protections. She will go on to discuss recent events like the Hurricane Katrina flood, the economy and other issues to which such human rights standards can apply.
As part of Community Cultural Harmony Week, Ross also will lead a workshop, "Reproductive Justice and Human Rights," from 1-4 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Manhattan Public Library, 629 Poyntz Ave. The workshop is free and open to the public.
Ross' history of activism started in the 1970s when she became one of the first African-American women to direct a rape crisis center. She was founder and executive director of the National Center for Human Rights Education in Atlanta from 1996 to 2004. She was national co-director of the March for Women's Lives that took place April 25, 2004, in Washington, D.C.
Ross also is one of four co-authors of "Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice." The book won the outstanding book award from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. Ross also wrote "The Color of Choice," a chapter in "Incite! Women of Color Against Violence," published in 2006. She is a graduate of Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga.
Lou Douglas was a distinguished professor of political science at K-State from 1949 until 1977 and was widely known for his power to inspire students, faculty and citizens to instigate change. He was a founder of the UFM Community Learning Center, and after his death in 1979 the organization inaugurated the lecture series in his honor.
More information on the lecture series is available at http://www.tryufm.org