Mike Espy, Mississippi's first African-American congressman since Reconstruction and the first black U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, will appear at MSU Feb. 28 as part of Black History Month activities.

The former Mississippi 2nd District representative will speak at 7 p.m. in Simrall Hall auditorium. His visit is sponsored by the MSU Black Student Alliance and Holmes Cultural Diversity Center and illustrates this year's Black History Month theme: "21st Century America: African Americans Blazing New Trails of Leadership and Involvement."

Espy, whose professional papers are housed in Mitchell Memorial Library, represented the state in Congress 1987-93. In 1993, President Bill Clinton named the Yazoo City native the 25th Secretary of Agriculture.

A graduate of Howard University and the University of Santa Clara School of Law, he now is a member of Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens, and Cannada, the state's largest law firm.

For more information, telephone Stacy Roberson, director, Holmes Cultural Diversity Center, at 325-2033.