Educators invited to attend African American biography conference at MCLA

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Area educators and the public are invited to attend “The Shaping Role of Place in African American Biography,” a conference to be held Sept. 14-17 at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. The conference will celebrate the work of 20 K-12 teachers – from North Adams, Pittsfield, Dalton, Lenox, Sheffield and Great Barrington. Although all are welcome at the conference, educators who attend will earn professional development credit. Event organizer and project lead Frances Jones-Sneed, an MCLA history professor, said the conference would instruct educators on interesting ways to teach children about history from a local perspective, connecting Berkshire County events to the national level. “The 20 teachers who have worked on our project have worked for 18 months to learn how to do that. It is their job now, as master teachers of incorporating African American local history into their classrooms, to help out other teachers in the area to do the same,” Jones-Sneed said. Designated as a “We the People” project by the National Endowment for the Humanites (NEH), which awarded a $100,000 grant to fund the effort, the curriculum developed by the teachers is linked to the creation of the “Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail” and the publication of a 250-page trail guide, to be released at the conference. Once published this September, the trail guide will be given out to county libraries and to Berkshire County schools. Featured African Americans include civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Boise of Great Barrington, Revolutionary War veteran Agrippa Hull of Stockbridge, Harlem Renaissance photographer James Van Der Zee of Lenox, ex-slave Elizabeth “Mum Bett” Freeman of Sheffield, and Civil War veteran Rev. Samuel Harrison of Pittsfield. Conference speakers at MCLA will include David Levering Lewis, the Julius Silver University Professor and professor of history at New York University, known for his Pulitzer Prize winning, two volume biography of W.E.B. Du Bois; Mark Carnes, professor of history at Barnard College and general editor of “American National Biography,” who recently received the American Historical Association’s award for the best article on teaching history for “Inciting Speech;” and Lucy Anne Hurston, a sociology teacher at Manchester Community College in Connecticut and the author of “Speak, So You Can Speak Again,” an interactive text package tracing the journey of her aunt, Zora Neale Hurston, from Eatonville, Fla., through literary fame during the Harlem Renaissance to death in obscurity. The cost of the entire conference for Berkshire County residents is $100 or $50 per day, and includes all events, as well as lunch on Friday and Saturday and a Sunday brunch. Three or more teachers from the same school pay $250 for the entire conference. Students, seniors and those of low income pay $75 for the entire conference or $25 per day. In connection with the conference, MCLA will present its annual Margaret A. Hart Memorial Gospel Festival, featuring the Craig Harris Gospel Quartet and the Price AME Gospel Choir on Friday, Sept. 15, at 7:30 p.m. in the Church Street Center. Friday’s events include an inaugural tour and dedication of the heritage trail by motor coach, a Sheffield Historical Society symposium to include JoAnne Pope Melish, author of “Disowning Slavery,” and the gospel festival. Saturday’s sessions and speakers will include Lewis and Hurston, as well as a panel on Du Bois. On Sunday, Carnes will speak in recognition of local teachers participating in the curriculum project. In connection with the conference, MCLA’s Gallery 51 will feature artist Terry Adkins and his tribute to Du Bois at the 51 Main St. gallery in North Adams. For more information, (413) 662-5541, e-mail [ mailto:f.jones-sneed@mcla.edu ]f.jones-sneed@mcla.edu or go to [ http://www.mcla.edu/Academics/Special_Programs/NEH_African_American_Biography/ ]www.mcla.edu/aab .
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BCC Wins Grant for New Automatic External Defibrillator

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Community College (BCC) is the recipient of a $2,326 grant, funded by the Healey-Driscoll Administration, for the purchase of an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) device. 
 
The grant specifically covers a device for use inside one of BCC's security vehicles for easy access when traversing the campus.  
 
In total, the Commonwealth awarded more than $165,000 in grant funding to 58 municipalities,
13 public colleges and universities, and nine nonprofits to purchase AEDs for emergency response vehicles. The program is designed to increase access to lifesaving equipment during medical emergencies, when every second matters.  
 
An AED is a medical device used to support people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, which is the abrupt loss of heart function in a person who may or may not have been diagnosed with heart disease. An AED analyzes the patient's heart rhythm and, if necessary, delivers an electrical shock, or defibrillation, to help the heart re-establish an effective rhythm.  
 
"Immediate access to AEDs is vital to someone facing a medical crisis. By expanding availability statewide, we're equipping first responders with the necessary tools to provide lifesaving emergency care for patients," said Governor Maura Healey. "This essential equipment will enhance the medical response for cardiac patients across Massachusetts and improve outcomes during an emergency event."  
 
The funds were awarded through a competitive application process conducted by the Office of Grants and Research (OGR), a state agency that is part of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS).  
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