MU assistant professor Dr. David J. Peavler to deliver keynote address at Woodson fundraising banquet

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Dr. David J. Peavler, an assistant professor in Marshall University’s Department of History since September 2009, will be the keynote speaker at the Carter G. Woodson Memorial Foundation, Inc. fundraising banquet Saturday, May 1.

The 18th annual banquet begins at 6 p.m. in Room BE5 on the lower level of the Memorial Student Center on Marshall’s Huntington campus.

Proceeds from the banquet will help fund a scholarship endowment to support outstanding Marshall University students, as well as the purchase of materials on black culture and history.

Dr. David J. Peavler

Peavler is the director of African and African American Studies at Marshall University. He came to Marshall from Baltimore, where he taught at Towson University upon completion of his Ph.D. at the University of Kansas. He is the author of several award-winning articles in leading academic publications such as the Journal of African American History. Among his current projects are the publication of a book on African American pioneers in the American west following reconstruction, and a second book titled Jim Crow in the Land of John Brown which details the origins of segregation and the Black freedom struggle in America’s heartland. In addition to his service to the community in higher education, Peavler is an Air Force veteran and former instructor of fire/rescue personnel in Iraq.

His speech is titled “Cast Down Your Bucket Where You Are: West Virginia and the Black Freedom Struggle,” which details some aspects of local black history and the importance of collecting and preserving this history for future generations.

Music for the evening will be provided by Andrea Bowman, Kevin E. Johnson, Charles Johnson and David Barton, III.

Tickets for the banquet are available for a donation of $30. Corporate tables also are available. To purchase tickets or for more information, contact Newatha Myers, foundation president, at 740-894-5772; Loretta Hagler, banquet chairwoman, at 304-525-5651; or Karen Nance, secretary, at 304-736-1655.

The Carter G. Woodson Memorial Foundation is named in honor of Carter G. Woodson, who was a graduate of Douglass High School in Huntington and went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. Woodson, who is widely known as the “father of African American history,” founded the Association for the study of Negro Life and History in 1915. He also started the influential “Journal of Negro History” in 1916. ###

For further information, contact: Office of University Communications Marshall University | 213 Old Main | Huntington, WV 25755-1090 Voice: (304) 696-NEWS Fax: (304) 696-3197.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, April 15, 2010 Contact: Dave Wellman, Director of Communications (304) 696-7153.