‘Muslim Journeys’ Programs
September 03, 2013
Three presentations related to “Muslim Journeys,” a program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Bridging Cultures initiative, are being coordinated by Angelo State University’s Porter Henderson Library and the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts (SAMFA) this fall.
The first program will be the Sept. 17 screening and discussion of the PBS film “Prince Among Slaves,” which tells the story of African Prince Abd al Rahman Ibrahima, who was sold into the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1788 and brought to the United States. The screening, which will also serve as the opening program in the third year of ASU’s Civil War Lecture Series, is scheduled for 6 p.m. in the C.J. Davidson Center in the Houston Harte University Center.
“An Evening of A Thousand and One Nights” is set for 7 p.m. Sept. 25 in the Learning Commons of the Porter Henderson Library. English professor Dr. Chris Ellery along with members of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society, and English graduate students will offer a reading of selected stories together with observations and insights into the culture.
On Oct. 1 SAMFA will host a showing of the 90-minute video “Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World” to be followed by a discussion led by museum director Howard Taylor. The program will begin at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 1 in the museum’s meeting room.
All three programs are open free to the public.
As part of the NEH initiative, the Porter Henderson Library received the Muslin Journeys Bookshelf, a collection of 25 books and three films plus a one-year subscription to Oxford Islamic Studies Online. The ASU library was one of 953 libraries and state humanities councils in all 50 states to receive the collection, which is designed to highlight the complex history and culture of Muslims in the United States and around the world.
The bookshelf includes volumes on Muslims in America, Islamic history, Muslim literature, Islamic religion and Muslim culture from a variety of viewpoints. The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys is a project of the National Endowment for the Humanities, conducted in cooperation with the American Library Association. Support was provided by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Additional support for the arts and media components was provided by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.