{blackbabes} 'Young and the Restless' star Victoria Rowell at Miles College today; to host Ala. Majesty Awards Fri.

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http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/02/former_young_and_the_restless.html

Actress and author Victoria Rowell -- best known for her roles on the TV soap opera, "The Young and the Restless," and the 1990s crime drama, "Diagnosis Murder" -- will make three appearances at Miles College in Fairfield today and Friday.

The actress -- who played the popular character Drucilla Winters on "The Young and the Restless" for 14 years -- will speak today in Brown Hall Auditorium on campus immediately following a Black History Month address by civil rights leader Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. that begins at 11 a.m., according to a news release from the school.

Today at 1:30 p.m., Rowell will speak to female students at the George T. French Jr. Student Activity Center on campus. She will seek to inspire them as they pursue their education and careers, according to the news release.

On Friday at 7 p.m., Rowell will serve as the host of the Alabama Majesty Awards to be held in Pearson Hall Auditorium. The event is described as "a salute to African American living legends" that have had a positive impact on the community.

The honorees are Dr. Richard Arrington Jr., Birmingham's first African-American mayor; Miles College President George T. French Jr., Dr. Claude Brunson, an anesthesiologist; and Earl Hilliard, who served as Alabama's first African-American Congressman since Reconstruction.

Rowell is often credited with using the part of Drucilla on 'The Young and the Restless" to create a positive role model for young African-American women.

But Rowell -- who has won 11 NAACP Image Awards -- left the show in 2007 after claims of racial discrimination. She recently filed a lawsuit against CBS, Sony Pictures Entertainment and others, saying she was blocked from being rehired on the show in 2010 because she has often spoken out regarding a lack of racial diversity in both casts and crews on daytime TV.

The actress, who has been in the entertainment business since the mid-1980s, has appeared in numerous TV shows and movies and has published several books, including the memoir, "The Women Who Raised Me."

For more information about the Alabama Majesty Awards, go to www.alabamamajestyawards.com or call 205-335-9455.

Miles College is located at 5500 Myron Massey Blvd. in Fairfield. For more information, call 205-929-1000 or go to www.miles.edu.

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