In commemoration of the Niagara Movement's Centennial, Buffalo State College has planned "What Price Freedom? The Centennial Celebration of the Niagara Movement in Buffalo, New York", a year-long Distinguished Lecture Series designed to stimulate dialogue among local, national, and international scholars as well as the general public about the Niagara Movement and Buffalo's legacy as the birthplace of the early civil rights struggle.

The first lecture series is taking place on September 15, 6:00 p.m., in the Warren Enters Theatre, Upton Hall (on the Buffalo State campus), and opens with a viewing of the locally produced film, "Tales of the Underground Railroad: On The Erie Canal". The film's director, James P. Gribbins, is a 1984 graduate of Buffalo State. Bernadette Medige, who served as the film's writer and producer, is also a graduate of Buffalo State, where she earned her BA in Graphic Design (1985) and MS in Art Therapy Studies (1994). Mr. Gribbins and Ms. Medige will be on hand during and after the presentation to entertain questions from the audience.

"What Price Freedom" is funded, in part, by a major grant from the New York Council for the Humanities and has been organized in collaboration with the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society and Langston Hughes Institute, along with the Organization of American Historians and Association for the Study of African American Life and History. All lectures are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Wanda Davis at (716) 878-6126 or daviswm@buffalostate.edu or visit www.buffalostate.edu/niagaramovement.