News Release

Retracing the Footsteps of History Makers: Stephon Ferguson and Dr. Michael Simanga

photos of Stephon Ferguson and Dr. Michael Simanga

photo courtesy - Stephon Ferguson and Dr. Michael Simanga

News Release Date: January 11, 2020

Contact: Robin White, 501-374-1957

Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, in partnership with Philander Smith College, announces public programs with motivational performer Stephon Ferguson and civil rights activist and educator Dr. Michael Simanga. These two events are in cooperation with the National Park Service and its 400 Years of African American History programming. Stephon Ferguson will perform at Philander Smith College on Thursday, January 16; Dr. Simanga will speak at Philander Smith College on Friday, January 17. Both events are free and open to the public; no reservation is required.

A native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, Stephon Ferguson served as a Sergeant in the US Army and later worked as a radio personality and news reporter for 15 years. He is a licensed and ordained minister and currently serves as an Associate Minister at Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Ferguson volunteers much of his time to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park in Atlanta, giving historical presentations and conducting interpretive programming to visitors at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Dr. King’s home church. In addition to his motivational performance work, Ferguson is writing a memoir about his experience portraying Dr. King and creating a one-man performance to showcase many of King’s secondary speeches.

Dr. Michael Simanga is an activist writer and cultural worker who came of age in Detroit as an organizer and artist for civil and human rights, Black political empowerment and development. As a cultural worker, he is an advocate of art as an instrument of social justice and building and supporting community based cultural institutions. He teaches in the Department of African American Studies at Georgia State University and is the former Executive Director of the National Black Arts Festival and consultant with the Center for Civil and Human Rights. Dr. Simanga writes and lectures on African American politics and history, race and justice, human and civil rights and the Black Power/Black Arts Movement; recent books include No One Can be at Peace without Freedom (2017); The Identity Imperative and Black Liberation; and David Franklin: The Art Politics and Business of Black Empowerment (2019).

Stephon Ferguson’s program on Thursday will begin at 10:45 a.m. with a march from the Cox Administration Building on the Philander Smith College campus to Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church at 1109 South State Street; in the event of inclement weather, this program will be held inside Wesley Chapel beginning at 11:00 a.m. Dr. Simanga’s presentation on Friday will begin at 2:00 p.m. in the Kendall Science and Health Mission Center on the Philander Smith College campus.

For more information, call [phone] or email [e-mail].