Speaker explores African influences

Thursday, Feb. 13, 1997	Speaker explores African influences By MELISSA M. PAUGH Collegian Staff Writer In celebration of Black History Month, a handful of students gathered last night in the HUB Fishbowl to explore African influence in Latin America countries.
Laurence Prescott, associate professor of Spanish and bilingual studies, discusses the influence Africans have had in Latin American countries. Prescott spoke last night in the HUB Fishbowl in honor of Black History Month. (Collegian Photo / Shawn Knapp - click for full size image)	Speaker Laurence Prescott talked of the modern and historical presence of African people in Latin American countries at the presentation, sponsored by the Phi Delta Psi Hispanic Fraternity, Inc. and La Raza, the Caribbean Student Association, the Black Student Association, the Puerto Rican Student Association, Latino Caucus, the African Student Association, the Paul Robeson Cultural Center and Black Caucus. Prescott is an associate professor of Spanish and Bilingual Studies in the College of Liberal Arts who has traveled extensively through the Americas, uncovering the African roots of American life. Prescott expanded the idea of "Black American" to encompass all the Americas and showed the influence African people have had in this broad geographical area. "When we hear and use the phrase 'Black American' we think of the United States, but America includes Central and South America as well as the islands of the Caribbean," Prescott said.
CLARIFICATION:: The article unclearly stated the sponsors of the speech. The correct sponsors appear in the story.	He encouraged students to look at their own roots and acknowledge the influence that African people have had on their culture. This is especially important for students who have Latin American ancestry, Prescott said, because Black cultural presence is not actively promoted in most Latin American countries. "In the struggle of Black Americans in the United States we overlook and ignore the struggle of African descendants in the Southern Americans." Prescott said. "More Africans were brought to the Caribbean area and Brazil than to the United States and its territories during the Atlantic Slave Trade." Through several historical examples, Prescott explained how some African culture escaped assimilation and was passed through other ethnic groups. He talked of slave interaction with the European families as well as the Africans who took part in early exploration and discovery of the Americas.
`NAACP's Black History links`	"Africans did not come to the Americas without culture," he said. "They impacted the lives of the people in the Americas in their own ways." Prescott encouraged students to continue to notice the African contributions to life and culture and develop an international and global perspective that will enhance their world, especially during Black History Month. "It's important to know what you have as part of your heritage. We have an obligation to teach our children of the reflection of identity," Prescott added. Students were interested in Prescott's ideas and some achieved a new sense of understanding and respect for all aspects of their own culture, they said. "He made a lot of connections that more people need to make," said Rosalinda Musquiz (graduate-workforce education). "He's a great speaker. It's a shame they have a whole ethnic month and the turnout was so low."