In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many placed blame on the government for not coming to the aid of poor black people.

The Center for Black Studies will address that issue, among others, in its day-long symposium Tuesday.

The symposium will begin at 9 a.m. and will end with a reception at 7 p.m. and a banquet at 8 p.m. It is titled, “The Emmett Till Continuum in the Katrina Disaster Exposes the Theft of Life, Intellect and Spirit – 50 Years Later: Another Wake-up Call, Another Catalyst.”

Four sessions will take place throughout the day, followed by an afternoon presentation titled, “Statements of Outrage: Plagiarism Must Stop.”

Clenora Hudson-Weems, an English professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, will headline the event. Hudson-Weems is considered an authority on the Emmett Till case of 1955, in which a 14-year-old Chicago native was lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman.

Hudson-Weems asserts the Till case was the true catalyst behind the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Furthermore, she said the attitudes that existed a half-century ago persist today in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

For more information, contact LaVerne Gyant, director of the Center for Black Studies at 753-1709.