Activist Harold Fields to Speak at WSC for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration, Jan. 18
Jan. 7, 2010 -- In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Black Student Alliance at Western State College of Colorado (WSC) is hosting speaker Harold Fields, who will address the “unfinished business of Dr. King.”
Activist Harold Fields will speak at WSC at 7 p.m. on Jan. 18 in the College Center Ballroom.
The event starts at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 18 in the College Center Ballroom. It is free and open to the public.
Fields has a diverse background in activism, diversity and race relations, music, computer science, engineering and film. A graduate of Oklahoma State University with a degree in civil engineering, Fields led cutting-edge technology projects at IBM, Frontier Airlines and United Airlines. At IBM, Fields developed the software the drove the company’s first laser video disk and managed a team that built the prototypes that led to spreadsheet programs such as Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel. After 13 years at IBM, Fields entered the airline industry where he was one of the chief designers of the Apollo Reservation System and the flagship travel agent environment that has been deployed in more than 110 countries.
In addition to his remarkable career, Fields is active in numerous community and advocacy organizations. He is the national training director for the independent documentary about the triangle slave trade, “Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North”, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. He is a board member for the national initiative Coming to the Table, which brings together descendents of former slaves and slave owners for dialogue, reconciliation and healing. Fields also is for the monthly citywide racial dialogue in Denver. Furthermore, he established the Laboratory for Societal Healing, which brings together activists to conceptualize and promote a framework for structural changes that will address the unresolved trauma from historical inequities in society.
Also a talented vocalist, Fields sings with the Spirituals Project Choir, which is a part of the University of Denver, and is a music librarian for this 80-voice group. He has been conducting oral histories with people involved in the preservation of the Negro spirituals for an online curriculum at the University of Denver.
