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News
Noted Author Golphin Applies '60s Civil Rights Messages To Today's World
Mr. Vincent F. A. Golphin, a journalist, author and lecturer in the Language and Literature Department of the Rochester Institute of Technology, presented a talk entitled, "Malcolm, Martin and the Search for an American Conscience" on November 19 in the Fortunoff Hall Ballroom at Dowling College's Rudolph Campus in Oakdale. The event was part of Dowling's yearlong celebration of African-American culture.
According to Mr. Golphin, the global onslaught of capitalism, to the Bush administration's occupation of Iraq, to the spread of poverty in the United States, shows that the nation is in desperate need of a social conscience. That is why he says it is time for Americans, particularly college students, to pay deep attention to the writings of Malcolm X and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The event also included a reading by Dowling College Professor Dr. Luis Rivera of a poem entitled "Martes Negro", written by his father, Victor Manuel Rivera Toledo, on the night of Dr. King's assassination.
"Minister Malcolm X and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., both leaders during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, are still cited in most discussions of social justice in the United States. Yet most people do not grasp their true legacy of ideas nor how those thoughts can be used to guide us to solve some of today's social, political and spiritual problems," contends Mr. Golphin. "This presentation will provide insights and direction to anyone determined to wipe out racism in the 21st century."
Mr. Golphin, who teaches writing, African-American literature and cultural studies, lectures frequently on the ideas of the two civil rights leaders. He is the author of two books: "Life and Other Things I Know: Poems, Essays and Short Stories" and "African American Children's Stories: A Treasury of Tradition and Pride". His poems were included in "Take Two, They're Small," an anthology of poems, memoirs, essays and fiction on food. His latest project is "Like A Dry Land", a chapbook of poems based on a 14-day visit to Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia last June.
He is managing editor of about...time Magazine, a national publication based in Rochester. He also is the senior writer and editorial consultant for the Pride Newspapers chain, which publishes Rochester Pride, a monthly dedicated to news for the African-American community.
Mr. Golphin wrote a nationally syndicated column from 1987 to 1995, and throughout the past three decades his journalism and creative works have appeared in such publications as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Washington Living, Christianity Today, and The National Catholic Reporter.
About Dowling College
Dowling College is an independent, coeducational college that serves more than 6,500 students at
its historic Rudolph Campus on the banks of the Connetquot River in Oakdale, NY, and the 105-acre
Brookhaven Campus in eastern Long Island and a business center located near the Nassau-Suffolk
border in Melville. Dowling offers Bachelor′s, Master′s, and Doctoral degrees in several
disciplines through its four schools: Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Education.
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