Guest lecturer to discuss African American freedom fighters

Dr. Frank Smith Jr., founding director of the African American Civil War Memorial Freedom Foundation in Washington, D.C., will give a free, public lecture at 7 p.m. April 9, in Room 209 of the Science and Technology Building at East Carolina University.

Smith will discuss African American freedom fighters during the Civil War and the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Smith began his political and civic career in Washington, D.C., where he took his first job as a researcher for the Institute for Policy Studies, focusing on education and planning issues. At the Institute, Smith was promoted to senior resident fellow and became a member of the Board of Trustees.

From 1982 to 1998, Smith served on the District of Columbia City Council, where he represented one of the most racially, ethnically and economically diverse wards in the city. During his tenure, Smith wrote legislation creating subsidies for housing down payments and a lottery system for disposing of condemned and surplus housing. He supported tax incentives for new business development.

Smith is active on various committees and has held positions on many organizational boards, including the Board of the Washington, D.C. Convention and Tourism Corporation, the Board of Commissioners of the DC Housing Authority and the DCHA Committee on Audit and Finance.

He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., and earned his Ph.D. degree from the Union Institute in Ohio.

The event is sponsored by the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences African and African American Studies Program.

For additional information, contact Dr. David Dennard, director of the African and African American Studies Program and associate professor of history, at 252-328-4364 or dennardd@ecu.edu.

Individuals requesting accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) should call 252-737-1016 (voice/TTY) at least 48 hours prior to the event.