Kwame Ture, who as Stokely Carmichael was a leading spokesman for the Black Power Movement of the 1960s, will give a lecture at Cornell on Saturday, April 19, at 2 p.m. in Robert Purcell Union. His lecture, "28 Years After the Takeover: Developing a National Black Student Agenda," is free and open to the public.

Ture's talk will commemorate the occupation of Cornell's student union, Willard Straight Hall, for 36 hours on April 19, 1969, by approximately 100 African American students. The takeover followed months of unrest over issues concerning minority education and race relations on campus and seized the nation's attention, becoming for many people an enduring symbol of black student activism.

After graduating from Howard University in 1964 (he rejected scholarship offers from traditionally white universities), Ture began work on voter registration in Mississippi with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which he would later head. His activities and those of other volunteers in the South led to the formation of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, a forerunner of the Black Panther Party.

In 1973 Ture and his then-wife, South African singer Miriam Makeba, moved to Ghana in self-imposed exile. He remained in Africa for the next two decades. Ture now lives in New York City, where he remains a staunch supporter of Socialism and of Pan-Africanism, a global movement to unify and liberate Africa.

Ture's lecture will cap two weeks of discussions, films and other activities commemorating the Straight takeover; the theme of the events is "It Ain't Over: Appreciating and Renewing Our Commitment to Black Student Struggle." Also lecturing at Cornell will be former SNCC civil rights activist Willie Ricks, on Friday, April 18, at noon in front of the Straight.

Agyei Tyehimba, president of the Africana Student Association, said he believes Ture and fellow SNCC member Ricks will be powerful sources of reflection and inspiration for current student activists.

"As members of SNCC, Kwame Ture and Willie Ricks were some of the people most responsible for initiating the black student movement of the 1960s," Tyehimba said. "We hope they will help people to understand not only the implications of the Willard Straight Hall takeover, but the entire national context that it represents." Tyehimba said his and other Cornell groups hope to institute April 19 as a campus wide day of recognition.

"We're going to read a resolution proclaiming that day as a special day of recognition, because we think [the takeover] was, if not the most important, certainly one of the most influential student demonstrations both at Cornell University and throughout the country," he said. "Among other things, it expedited the establishment of the Africana Studies and Research Center, challenged the university to aggressively recruit more black students and faculty and made Cornell a more democratic and inclusive institution."

He added, "We think a day of recognition will serve to inspire black student activists at Cornell and at colleges throughout America to continue their efforts to develop black studies departments and black cultural centers."

Ture last spoke at Cornell in 1989. His latest visit is sponsored by the Africana Students Association and cosponsored by the Africana Studies and Research Center, Ujamaa Residential College and several other groups and programs.

For more information about the events commemorating the Straight takeover, see the following Web site: www.clarityconnect.com.