Douglas Wilder Visits Kenyon

GAMBIER, Ohio (February 5, 2004) L. Douglas Wilder, former governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, will speak at Kenyon on Monday, February 9, at 7:00 p.m. in Hill Theater.

A Democrat, Wilder was elected a state senator in 1969, becoming the first African American to serve in the Virginia legislature since Reconstruction. Wilder was subsequently Virginia's lieutenant governor from 1986 to 1990 and then governor from 1990 to 1994. He was the first elected African-American governor in U.S. history.

Wilder's talk at Kenyon, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the College's Black Student Union.

One of the nation's leading liberal arts and sciences colleges and home to the Kenyon Review, Kenyon College offers 1,594 students a challenging educational experience enriched by a culture of friendship. Graduates of the College have included actor and philanthropist Paul Newman and author E. L. Doctorow.