"font-size: 10pt;">Bay Minette, AL-

"font-size: 10pt;">Dr. Billie Jean Young will bring Fannie Lou

Hamer alive once again during Faulkner State’s Annual Black History

Month Program, scheduled for February 23, 2012 at 7:00 P.M. at the

L. D. Owen Performing Arts Center on the Bay Minette Campus. Young

has been keeping the history of the Civil Rights Movement current

for more than a quarter century with her powerful one-woman show,

Fannie Lou Hamer:  This Little

Light…  Young has traveled for

nearly twenty-nine years performing an introduction to the powerful

Mississippi sharecropper named Fannie Lou Hamer. This

Little Light evokes memories of the Sixties for those

who lived it and introduces the era to youth of all

ages.  Admission is free for this dramatic and musical

event, and the public is invited to attend.

"font-size: 10pt;">Young is Associate Professor of Fine and

Performing Arts and theatre artist-in residence at Judson College,

from which she was graduated in 1974.  A published

author of three books, Fear Not the Fall, New South Books;

Now How You Do? A Memoir; and Family Secrets,

both published by Westry Wingate Press. Young is a poet, playwright

and chronicler of both Blackbelt history and Black History. She

earned a Juris Doctorate from Samford University’s Cumberland

School of Law, and she is a playwright and director of theatre as

well. Young is a history-maker in her own right – having been

featured in the 20ll AT&T sponsored Alabama African American

history calendar (

href="http://www.alafricanamerican.com/">

"color: black;">http://www.alafricanamerican.com/),

which is produced in partnership with the Alabama State Department

of Education. Her book, Fear Not the Fall is a supplement

to the Social Studies curriculum for grades 4-12 in Alabama public

schools. The Girl Scouts of West Central Alabama in Tuscaloosa

named Dr. Young a Woman of Distinction in 2011.

"font-size: 10pt;">The New York Amsterdam News

characterized Billie Jean Young’s

performance in This Little Light at New York’s National

Black Theater as “nothing short of phenomenal” and Debbie Bouton’s

writing in Ruralamerica described the

one-woman show as “dramatic and awesomely powerful.” Fannie Lou

Hamer’s best friend, the late Annelle Ponder, said upon witnessing

Young’s first performance in Mississippi in 1983: “Watching

to us.” Young has received numerous awards for her portrayal

of the former sharecropping woman, notable among them the

Mississippi Governor’s Award for Artistic Achievement, the

MacArthur Fellows ‘genius’ award, and the Congressional Black

Caucus’ On the Road to Freedom Award.

"font-size: 10pt;">For more information on this event, contact

Faulkner State Community College at 251-580-2106.