donnie l. betts

Music is My Life

Politics is My Mistress:

The Story of Oscar Brown Jr.

Directed by donnie l. betts

Oscar Brown Jr.: October 10, 1926 - May 29, 2005.  Please see the Wikipedia entry honoring Brown.

Our Phi Kappa Phi Spring Forum, February 8, 2007, a screening of “Music Is My Life, Politics My Mistress: The Story of Oscar Brown Jr.” with discussion by the filmmaker donnie l. betts, was a definite success..  We had a good attendance for the film (~50), including numerous students from various disciplines and faculty and staff from a variety of departments (African American Studies, African American Cultural Center, Agriculture, History and Philosophy, Languages and Literature, the Library, and more

Click here for Photos of Our Phi Kappa Phi Spring ForumIn addition to our Thursday evening event, donnie betts also met with three APSU classes (Barry Kitterman’s Creative Writing class, Leni Dyer’s Theatre/Scene Design class, and Andrew Smallwood’s Introduction to African American Studies class) and students from the History Club and Phi Alpha Theta history honor society, advised by Minoa Uffelman, during his two days on campus.  On Friday afternoon, donnie betts met with a class at Vanderbilt, and on Friday evening he presented the hour-long version of his film, which had aired on Nashville Public Televison on Tuesday, Feb. 6, at the Clarksville-Montgomery County Library (where 61 were in attendance—a record for an evening event for the Friends of the Library (President Taylor Emery) in their venue, according to the library director!).

Below are PKP-191's various co-sponsors and what they provided.  We thank you all!

Center of Excellence in Creative Arts (Jim Diehr):  honorarium for donnie betts.

African American Cultural Center (Carol Bennet): 2 nights at the Riverview Inn

African American Studies Program (Andrew Smallwood): 1 night at the Riverview

Women’s Studies Program  (Jill Eichhorn):  100 posters

Honors, Dept of Art, Dept of Lang/Lit, Dept of Communication, Theatre & Dance:  for the reception (split four ways)

Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society: provided refreshments for their meeting with donnie betts

donnie betts participated in a DNA study to help him identify his ancestry among the countries and peoples of Africa.  Read more at the Rocky Mountain News.