---Eatonville, Florida: Zora Neale Hurston Festival---
The Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities will present a special treat for festival-goers attending its 14th annual event on Friday, January 24 and Saturday, January 25. "Zora! H'ehr in Eatonville- Selected Readings," will feature folk material, autobiography and narrative focused on Hurston and her historic hometown, Eatonville, Florida, popularly known as "the oldest incorporated municipality in the United States established by people of African descent." "Zora! H'ehr in Eatonville" will be produced by Jill Newman and directed by Lloyd Richards, Director Emeritus, Yale Repertory Theater. The annual Hurston Festival is a multi-day and multidisciplinary event to celebrate the life and work of 20th century American writer/folklorist/anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston, to celebrate the historic significance of her hometown, Eatonville, Florida; and to celebrate the cultural contributions made by people of African descent to the United States and to world culture. Always presented during the last weekend in January, the Hurston Festival has, since its inception in 1990, drawn some 500,000 visitors to Eatonville, Florida, located approximately ten miles northeast of downtown Orlando. For more information, Contact Terri Vismale-Morris at 404.346.0410 or send E-mail newideas@telocity.com. For registration and ticket information, call 407.647.3307 or visit www.zoranealehurstonfestival.org.

---African American Television Guide Update (check local listings or www.unityfirst.com)--- * January 20 (Monday) Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin premieres on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 20, 10 p.m. EST (check local listings) on PBS. *January 21 (Tuesday) (11:35 pm. E.T.): ABC News "Nightline" will preview TWO TOWNS OF JASPER on the ABC Television Network. The broadcast will feature a conversation with filmmakers Dow and Williams, and lengthy excerpts of the documentary, a study of Jasper in the aftermath of the Byrd murder. *January 22 (Wednesday) (9:00 p.m. ET on PBS, check local listings) P.O.V. will broadcast the documentary TWO TOWNS OF JASPER. In TWO TOWNS OF JASPER, two film crews, one black and one white, set out to document the aftermath of the murder by following the subsequent trials of the local men charged with the crime. The white crew covered the trials as it was seen by whites, the black crew through the eyes of African-Americans. *January 23 (Thursday) (PBS (9 pm. E/T.) Ted Koppel will anchor AMERICA IN BLACK AND WHITE: JASPER, TEXAS, a live town meeting on race in America from Jasper, Texas. The 90-minute town meeting will be broadcast live and in its entirety on PBS at 9:00 p.m. ET (check local listings). ABC News "Nightline" will broadcast one hour of the town meeting beginning at 11:35 p.m. ET on the ABC Television Network. The town hall meeting will be held with the citizens of Jasper, many of whom were interviewed for the documentary. *Feb. 2 (8 pm)(Showtime): Good Fences, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover, Spike Lee and Sam Kitt serve as Executive Producers. Set in the 1970s, Good Fences is a dramatic portrait of the Spader family, an upwardly mobile African American family for whom the American Dream becomes a nightmare. Tom (Danny Glover) is an African American attorney who is determined to "end the colored man's losing streak."When he takes on and wins a high-profile case -- defending a white man who set some black vagrants on fire -- he is thrust into the limelight. Now a hot-shot lawyer on the partner track, he moves his wife Mabel (Whoopi Goldberg) and their two kids, out of their mixed lower middle class town and into the posh, waspy enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut. While Tom has a sense of pride for "making it," Mabel struggles to discover her identity within their newfound society. But when Ruth Crisp (MO'NIQUE), an African American lottery winner, moves in next door to the Spaders (and then wants to buy another house in the tony cul-de-sac for her extended family), Tom becomes alarmed. Tom believes that he and Mabel will be blamed for this "black invasion" and that his anticipated appointment to the State Supreme Court will be put in jeopardy. Feb. 16 (8 pm) (Showtime) Deacons for Defense: Based on the true story of a group of African American men who chose to take an aggressive and armed stand in the civil rights movement, the film stars Forest Whitaker, Jonathan Silverman and Ossie Davis. The show follows the story of a group of African American men in Bogalusa, Louisiana who, instead of being passive and participating in "sit-ins," armed themselves with heavy artillery and organized their neighbors to fight against the Ku Klux Klan. This black militia group, which has been forgotten by many, became a focal point in the civil rights movement at the time.

----Tavis Smiley celebrates first year with NPR---
Celebrating a successful and historic first year with NPR, Tavis Smiley will mark his one-year anniversary as host of The Tavis Smiley Show from NPR with a week-long series January 6-10 designed to enlighten, encourage and empower his listeners. The Tavis Smiley Show anniversary week offers something for everyone: 25 of Smiley's best interviews from 2002, advice from notable motivators, a thought-provoking panel on race in America, and humor from renowned comedians. On January 7, the show's first anniversary, Smiley switches to the guest chair to be interviewed by a celebrity television news personality on his first year with NPR. Tavis Smiley made radio history and headlines on January 7, 2002, the day his show debuted, when he became the first African American to host his own signature talk magazine for NPR. Here's a glimpse of Anniversary Week on The Tavis Smiley Show: January 6: Race and the GOP; Les Brown on living your best life in '03, January 7: Race and the Democratic Party, January 8: Race and Whites, January 9: Race and Blacks, January 10: The future of race

---HUD awards $10 million software contract to RS Information Systems---
RS Information Systems (RSIS) has been awarded a $10 million contract to provide software development and systems maintenance support for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, (HUD), the company announced. The company's work will support systems operated by the Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) in HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing. REAC monitors and assesses the condition of properties in which HUD has an interest as well as the performance of those that manage or own HUD properties. RSIS provides information technology, systems engineering and technical assistance, telecommunications services, scientific support services, and management consulting to a wide range of government agencies and commercial clients. A privately held, African American-owned company, RSIS has 1400 employees, 65 percent of whom are women, minorities and veterans. Revenues doubled to $140 million in 2001 and rose to more than $185 million in 2002. In addition, RSIS presently holds funded contracts valued in excess of $600 million in future revenues. Washington Technology places RSIS 50th among the Top 100 federal IT contractors nationally based on revenue. A Black Enterprise study lists RSIS as the largest African American-owned company in the Washington, DC region and the fifth fastest growing African American company in the country.

---Call for speakers---
UnityFirst.com and African American Newswire invites speakers (keynote or panel), businesses owners, entrepreneurs, motivational speakers, professionals in various fields, and others with key presentations, to participate in UnityFirst's Speaker's Bureau. This service will connect speakers with potential opportunities for addressing a wide range of groups. Send in the basics: your name, address, phone, fax, email, web, top three topics that you speak on, and top three attributes (credentials), Fee range, travel expectations, and electronic photo, book jacket, and 400 word (maximum) press release/bio. For more information, please call 413-734-6444 or send email to jfondon@unityfirst.com.

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