by Debra Cash

Author Toni Morrison

Arts alert for readers in the Pioneer Valley. I’m no fan of Black History Month — it reinforces the misguided idea that the other eleven are White (or maybe “hegemonic”) History Month — but if it creates an opportunity to bring together three great African-American visionaries it can’t be all bad. On February 13, the Mullins Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst hosts Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, Sweet Honey and Freedom Singer Bernice Johnson Reagon and poet/activist Sonia Sanchez in conversation. The program also includes musical selections by The New Africa House Ensemble, the Voices of New Africa Choir directed by Evelyn Harris, and a guest performance by composer and saxophonist Frederick Tillis.