Presentations Scheduled for Thursday Evenings - February 24, March 3 and 17, and April 7 from 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. in the Clement Building - Ledbetter Auditorium

(Columbia, Tenn. - February 17, 2011) - - - Columbia State Community College will host Celebrating Our Diverse Heritage I. The series of presentations will be held on select Thursday evenings throughout February, March, and April from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. in Ledbetter Auditorium. The series is free and open to the public.

Margaret Sanger and the Conception of the Birth Control Movement will be held on Thursday, February 24. Margaret Sanger, the "Rebel Woman" coined the term "birth control" during a period of American history when the discussion of birth control was illegal even between physicians and patients. Adrienne Skora, Instructor of History at Columbia State, will introduce letters, diaries, newspaper accounts, legislative laws and writings of Margaret Sanger to provide a clearer picture of the conception of the birth control movement and the obstacles faced by Margaret Sanger and the women of her day.

The Women's Suffrage Movement and How Tennessee Became the "Perfect 36th" is scheduled for Thursday, March 3. From Seneca Falls, New York to Nashville, Tennessee, Candace Warner, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Dr. Barry Gidcomb, Professor of History trace the circuitous march of the Women's Suffrage movement stopping along the way to meet important people and revisit significant events leading up to the grand finale at the Tennessee State Capitol.

The Hispanic Contribution to our American Diversity will be presented on Thursday, March 17. Dr. Bill Andrews, Professor of History, will trace the historic role of Spanish-speaking people, the fastest growing segment in our national demographic, in fashioning the political, cultural and social fabric of the United States today.

"Ideas of the Pre-eminent Psychologizer" - The Father of American Psychology: William James will take place on Thursday, April 7. In 1878 William James, who later became regarded as the Father of American Psychology, agreed to write a psychology textbook for the American publisher Henry Holt. It took James roughly twelve years to produce the manuscript and when he did, he described it to Holt as "a loathsome, distended, tumefied, bloated, dropsical mass, testifying to nothing but two facts: first, that there is no such thing as a science of psychology; and second, that W. J. is an incapable." Nevertheless, Principles of Psychology was published in 1890 and was a monumental textbook synthesizing James' views of psychology, physiology and philosophy. The textbook has proved to be James' masterwork, containing his essential ideas on cognition, consciousness, the Self, emotion and will, ideas that would form the basis of a distinct American psychology. De'Marcus Jackson, Instructor of Psychology, will review and discuss the ideas of Williams James, describing his influence on contemporary psychology as well as his contribution toward the shaping of psychology in America.

Celebrating Our Diverse Heritage is an annual series of presentations sponsored by the Columbia State Department of History designed to illuminate our country's diverse past and enhance our understanding of the present.

The Ledbetter Auditorium is located in the Clement building on Columbia State's Columbia Campus.

Columbia State is a two-year college, serving a nine-county area in southern Middle Tennessee with locations in Columbia, Franklin, Lawrenceburg, Lewisburg and Clifton. As Tennessee's first community college, Columbia State is committed to increasing access and enhancing diversity at all five campuses. Columbia State is a member of the Tennessee Board of Regents, the sixth largest higher education system in the nation. For more information, please visit www.columbiastate.edu.

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