Contact: Kay F. Jones
Mississippi's first African-American congressman since Reconstruction and the first black U.S. Secretary of Agriculture will speak Wednesday [Feb. 28] at Mississippi State.
As part of the university's Black History Month observance, former Mississippi 2nd District representative Mike Espy of Jackson will address a 7 p.m. public program in Simrall Hall auditorium.
The university's Black Student Alliance and Richard Holmes Cultural Diversity Center are sponsoring Espy's visit. His remarks will address the 2001 Black History Month theme, "21st Century America: African Americans Blazing New Trails of Leadership and Involvement."
Espy, whose professional papers are housed in Mitchell Memorial Library at MSU, represented the state in Congress 1987-93. In 1993, President Bill Clinton named him the 25th secretary of agriculture.
A graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., and the University of Santa Clara (Calif.) School of Law, he now is a member of Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens, and Cannada, the state's largest law firm.
Also next week, Richard Holmes, the first African-American to enroll at MSU and the cultural diversity center's namesake, will be on campus as featured speaker for the annual Academic Achievement Awards Banquet. The Tuesday [27th] evening event in the Bost Extension Center auditorium will spotlight top black, Hispanic/Latino-American, Asian American, and Native American scholars at the university.
Holmes now is a Birmingham, Ala., physician.
For more information on both programs, telephone Holmes Center director Stacy Roberson at 325-2033.