Two spaces in UNCG’s African American and African Diaspora Studies program will have an official name. And each honors an outstanding individual.
The two spaces?
- Lorenzo “Logie” Meachum Lecturer’s Office
- N. Frank Woods, Jr. Library
A naming ceremony, titled “Celebrating our Names,” was held last Friday in Curry Auditorium. It was sponsored by African American and African Diaspora Studies, the Chancellor’s Office, and the College of Arts and Sciences.
Woods’ service to UNCG and the students spanned nearly 40 years. The longest serving director of the African American and African Diaspora Studies program (1994-2008) – and a leading figure in the program’s development – he taught courses in African American history, art history, music, film, and popular culture, and he regularly published in these areas. His most recently published book was Henry Ossawa Tanner: Art, Faith, Race, and Legacy (Routledge, 2017.)
Meachum was a community leader, blues musician, storyteller, and former instructor in the African American and African Diaspora Studies program. Recipient of the O. Henry Lifetime Achievement Award for his impact on the arts, he help found the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society and he helped bring the National Folk Festival to Greensboro. Meachum died of cancer in 2018.
Alumni of UNCG, Woods earned his MFA here and Meachum studied in the English doctoral program.
At the Oct. 14 ceremony, the University Choir sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (James Weldon Johnson/J. Rosamond Johnson), and The Neo-Black Society Gospel Choir sang “Better Is One Day in Your House” (Matt Redman).
Several speakers offered testimonials, as Dr. Woods and members of Meachum’s family sat in the front rows.
Mr. Demetrius Noble, Dr. Deborah Barnes, Mr. Dominick Hand, Dr. Armondo Collins, Ms. Tierra Moore, Mr. Michael Cauthen, LaShonda Sousa, Josephus Thompson III, and Ishmael Meachum, Logie’s older son, were among the speakers.
Photograph: Longtime lecturer Michael Cauthen, one of many speakers at the ceremony.
