For radio production director Andru Morgan, some of the images of black men in the entertainment industry can be misleading to the general public.
"I get a chance to see firsthand how there are negative images of African-American males that sell," Morgan said. "We might dumb ourselves down to get money and fit a particular image in the music industry and other areas of entertainment business."
Morgan will be a panelists during the Man Up Symposium presented by the Rudisill Regional Library and African-American Resource Center, 9 a.m. Sept. 16 at 1520 N. Hartford Ave.
The event was created by Alicia Latimer, resource center coordinator, to target issues relevant to black men. Sisters Sippin' Tea Literary Group, Friends of Rudisill Library, Tulsa Library Trust and African-American Resource Center will sponsor the event.
Latimer said the symposium will help create a dialogue where speakers can offer suggestions and answers to issues of literacy, dropout rates, masculine images, family, spirituality, sexuality and crime.
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Three authors will visit Tulsa from different parts of the country to share their views during the event.
Mark Anthony Neal, a scholar and National Public Radio commentator, will discuss his book, "New Black Man: Rethinking Black Masculinity," a critique of old ways of discussing and interpreting black masculinity.
"My current work details how we get young black men to be comfortable in the skin that they're in and not the need to perform the notion of what they think black manhood is," Neal said in a telephone interview. "We look at some black men, and if they don't fit our concept of what black men are supposed to be, then they are suspect."
Also attending will be Vincent Alexandria, chairman of Brother-to-Brother Symposium, a program that encourages black men to pursue literacy. Alexandria recently finished the movie script for his first novel, "If Walls Could Talk," and is owner of We Must X-L, a promotional and theatrical company in Kansas City, Mo. Alexandria has also written several novels, including "Black Rain."
William Cooper, coordinator of the Well Reading Group, a Brooklyn, N.Y., based literacy initiative, will also attend. Cooper is the author of "Six Days in January."
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SYMPOSIUM
What: Man Up Symposium
When: 9 a.m. Sept. 16
Where: Rudisill Regional Library, 1520 N. Hartford Ave.
Cost: Free
For more: Call 596-7280
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