Texas A&M history professor and former President of Prairie View A&M Dr. George C. Wright, provided UNT Dallas students, staff and faculty with one of the most compelling and engaging presentations in recent memory with his discussion on Black History Month on Thursday.

Charismatic and also forceful, Dr. Wright challenged the notion that Black History Month is no longer necessary by putting in perspective the black migrations over the centuries, starting with the forced migration of Africans to the United States as slaves and eventually the Great Migration in which African-Americans flooded into urban centers in the Northeast, Midwest and West because of economic inequalities, racial violence and harsh segregationist laws. His presentation wove his own life experiences as a child growing up in segregated Kentucky, where he would get excited to attend the state fair on the few designated days that blacks were allowed on "Negro Day."

He also discussed progress made over the decades, including his own ascension in higher education, from being admitted into the University of Kentucky to earning his doctorate at age 27 from Duke University to ultimately leading Prairie View A&M as its president from 2003-2014.

Later Thursday, Dr. Wright spoke at the UNT Dallas College of Law on the topic of racial violence and this country's disturbing history of public lynchings.

Dr. Wright's presentation at UNT Dallas' main campus can be viewed in its entirety here.