Omowale Ketu Oladuwa—a journalist, poet, and master of traditional Afrikan drumming—will speak on “Resistance: How to Get Your Identity Back” on Wednesday, March 30, at 7 pm in Parlin Hall, Room 301, at the University of Texas at Austin. The talk will draw on Oladuwa’s current project “Root Folks,” based on his travels across the country on a motorcycle to explore how people and communities are shaping identity and expressing resistance.

After growing up in New York State and serving in the Air Force as a young man, Oladuwa spent five years on death row for a murder he did not commit. After being acquitted, Oladuwa earned degrees from Fordam University and Northwestern University, transforming himself into a writer and artist. In Fort Wayne, IN, he was managing editor of Frost Illustrated, one of Midwest’s oldest African American newspapers, and then served as executive artistic director at the Three Rivers Institute of Afrikan Art and Culture, managing the Three Rivers Jenbe Ensemble and Acoustic Spoken Word Café, and teaching classes for children and youth.

The event is sponsored by the Social Justice Institute of the University of Texas at Austin and the Third Coast Activist Resource Center. For more information, contact Robert Jensen, rjensen@austin.utexas.edu.

Location: Parlin Hall, Room 301 (PAR 31), University of Texas, Austin