Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Dr. Cheek To Speak At SAU

Dr. William Cheek, a distinguished scholar who serves as professor of history at San Diego State University, will be the guest speaker at the annual Walz Lecture in History at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia. The lecture will be held Thursday, September 30 at 7:30 p.m. in Harton Theater.

Cheek will speak on The Ordeal of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: The Final Years.'

Cheek's study of John Mercer Langston, a famous 19th century African-American, was named the 1990 outstanding book on human rights. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia and has taught at the Universities of Arkansas, Virginia and Southern California.

Over the years, he has received more than 25 outstanding teaching awards.

A specialist in American history and African-American history, Cheek presently teaches courses on American Biography and on the Civil War and Reconstruction. Cheek has written numerous articles and is the author of Black Resistance Before the Civil War (1970) and John Mercer Langston and the Fight for Black Freedom, 1829-65 (1989), which his wife, Aimee, co-authored.

Together, the Cheeks are currently researching and writing a second biographical study of Langston, explaining the years from 1865 to his death in 1897.

The Walz Lectureship in History at SAU is named in honor of Dr. Robert B. Walz, an important historian of Arkansas.

He served twice as president of the Arkansas Historical Association and on its board of directors for two decades. He was best known across the state for collecting and preserving Arkansas history in early photographs.

The Walz Lecture was established in 1995 with a bequest from the estate of his wife, Mrs. Curtistine A. Walz, to honor his long service to Southern Arkansas University. The lectureship brings a prominent historian to the SAU campus for an annual presentation.

The Walz Lecture is free and open to the public.

A reception will follow the lecture in the Brinson Fine Arts Building. Call 870-235-4200 for more information.