North Carolina Central University will celebrate Black History Month with a series of events that are free and open to the public. The keynote speaker is Dr. Cheryl Hicks, assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, who will speak from the topic “Talk With You Like a Woman: African-American Women, Justice and Reform in New York, 1890-1935.” Her address is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 17, at 5 p.m. in the H.M. Michaux Jr. School of Education Auditorium.

On Thursday, Feb. 10, needlework artist Carol Beck will present, “Literature, Quilts and African-American History,” at 2:30 p.m. in the James E. Shepard Library. Beck’s work includes handbags and masks. Her designs are sold in specialty needlework stores throughout the country.

Michelle Lanier, director of the African-American Heritage Commission, will present on Tuesday, Feb. 15 at 11:40 a.m., in the Shepard Library. Lanier will speak from the topic, “Envisioning the Future of North Carolina’s African-American Heritage.”

The Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Ruined” by Lynn Nottage will open at the University Theatre, Friday, Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. NCCU students will lend their talent to this production set in the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo. The NCCU production has been entered into the American Collegiate Theater Festival and will compete with other regional productions.

Other highlights include:

• More than 20 student and faculty presentations centered on the theme “African-Americans and the Civil War.”
• A concert, discussion and multimedia presentation, “I Love Myself When I am Laughing. … And Then Again, When I’m Looking Mean and Impressive. Honoring African-American Writers & Composers,” by Lenora Helm, NCCU music professor.
• “West Africa and the Origin of Mexican Rice Cultivation and Rice Gastronomy,” a lecture by Dr. Marco Hernandez-Cuevas, co-chair of the Spanish department.
• A special guest lecture focusing on NCCU’s founder, “James Edward Shepard: the Genealogy, the Genius, and the Vision, 1875-1947,” by Dr. Henry L. Suggs, emeritus professor of American history at Clemson University.

For more details, visit www.nccu.edu.