ETHNIC ART : Paying Homage to Black Culture : Celebration: A performance by the Garth Fagan dance troupe highlights month of concerts, lectures and exhibits.

Garth Fagan Dance, an internationally renowned modern dance troupe critically acclaimed for its originality and virtuosity, will perform Sunday at Cal State Northridge as part of a campus salute to Black History Month.

The New York-based troupe will help kick off the university’s celebration of black history, culture and achievement. The monthlong event will feature a range of events--from a rap music contest for students to a speech by the former campaign director of Jesse Jackson’s unsuccessful 1984 presidential campaign.

A variety of other San Fernando Valley groups and institutions also are planning special programs for Black History Month, including concerts, exhibits, presentations and performances.

At CSUN, the famed Fagan troupe, which has won a Dance Magazine award for significant contribution to dance and the New York Performance Award for Sustained Achievement, will perform at 8 p.m. Sunday in Room SD of the Campus Theater Building.

Founded 20 years ago by Fagan in Rochester, N.Y., the troupe has performed all over the world, drawing praise for coupling creativity with great technical skill.

Prepaid tickets for the performance are $20 general admission, $15 for faculty, staff and senior citizens and $10 for students. Tickets will be available at the Speech Drama Box Office from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays or by calling (818) 885-3093.

On Thursday at CSUN, Ron D. Daniels, who directed Jackson’s 1984 campaign and plans to run for the presidency as an independent candidate in 1992, will speak at 6 p.m. in the Student Union’s Tapestry Room.

Also scheduled to appear at CSUN is Harry Edwards, a UC Berkeley sociology professor, outspoken sports activist and nationally known advocate for minority rights. Last fall, Edwards gained national attention by organizing a campaign to dissuade blacks from attending Berkeley to protest the school’s football team playing at the Copper Bowl in Tucson, Ariz. That state has failed to declare a state holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

Edwards, an adviser to the San Francisco 49ers football team and the Golden State Warriors basketball team in Oakland, also organized a boycott of the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City to protest what he described as the exploitation of black athletes. He will speak from noon to 1:30 p.m. Feb. 12 in the Student Union’s Santa Clarita Room.

For information on Daniels’ or Edwards’ speeches, call (818) 885-3311. CSUN is located at 18111 Nordhoff St.

* In other events, two Los Angeles-based performing arts groups that have appeared around the world but never together will be featured in a concert at the University of Judaism. Chester Whitmore’s Black Ballet Jazz and the Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers will perform at the Gindi Auditorium Feb. 9 and 10.

Since being formed a quarter of a century ago, the Jubilee Singers have performed their repertoire of black spirituals, gospel, calypso, and musicals for audiences in 65 countries.

Black Ballet Jazz, led by artistic director Chester Whitmore, tries to preserve the dances of black America in historically accurate form. The ensemble has represented the United States at international festivals.

The dancers will present a fast-paced evolution of black dance from the clog and cakewalk of the minstrel-show era to Dixieland, blues, ragtime, the fad dances of the Cotton Club and the street dances of today. The show also will include selections from “Taparama,” a musical salute to the great black hoofers of the past and from the classic George Gershwin musical “Porgy and Bess.”

Black Ballet Jazz and the Jubilee Singers will perform at 8:30 p.m. Feb. 9, and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 10 at the university at 15600 Mulholland Drive. Tickets are $15 and $20, and groups of 20 or more are eligible for a 20% discount. For reservations or information, call (213) 476-9777.

* The San Fernando Valley branch of the NAACP will present a program on the last 200 years of black history on Feb. 23.

The program, which is still being planned, will include community church choirs singing gospel music, skits, presentations and poetry readings by schoolchildren, said Jose De Sosa, branch president. The free program will begin at 1 p.m. at the San Fernando Valley Boys and Girls Club, 11251 Glenoaks Blvd., Pacoima.

* Black rodeo riders and the contributions made by blacks to the Old West will be among the programs and entertainment planned for the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum’s celebration of Black History Month.

The 1972 documentary “Black Rodeo,” which featured Muhammed Ali and black rodeo stars Bud Bramwell, Cleo Hearn, Skeets Henderson, Rocky Watson, and Lisa Bramwell, will be shown at 2 p.m. Feb. 10 in the museum’s Wells Fargo Theater. Admission to the documentary is $3 for adults, $2 for senior citizens and children 12 and younger, or an additional $1 for those who paid museum admissions.

At 2 p.m. Feb. 23, also in the museum’s Wells Fargo Theater, Joseph E. Holloway, a professor in CSUN’s Pan-African Studies department, will present a free slide show and lecture on “African Contributions to the American Cowboy Culture.”

The museum also will present a variety of singers performing traditional and original music celebrating African-American culture at 12:30, 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 23 and 24 in the indoor Heritage Court. The program is free with paid museum admission.

Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum is in Griffith Park at 4700 Western Heritage Way, next to the L.A. Zoo. General admission is $5.50 for adults, $4 for seniors and students, $2.50 for children 2 through 12. Parking is free. For information, call (213) 667-2000.

* Pierce College will celebrate Black History Month with an exhibit of books, magazines, pamphlets and posters about black history.

The materials will be on display in the campus library’s main reading room from Tuesday to Feb. 22. The library is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m Saturdays. Admission is free. The college is at 6201 Winnetka Ave.

* Other events at CSUN include a video presentation and panel discussion on black fraternities and sororities at 7 p.m. Feb. 19 in the Student Union’s Santa Clarita Room. A hip-hop or rap music contest co-sponsored by Los Angeles radio station KJLH, Arista Records and a variety of student organizations is scheduled for noon Feb. 27 at the Student Union. For more information, call (818) 885-3635. All these events are free.

Maulana Karenga, chairman of the Pan-African Studies department at Cal State Long Beach and a longtime leader of the Black Nationalist movement, will speak at a banquet at the CSUN Student Union at 7 p.m. Feb. 28. In 1966, Karenga founded the U.S. Kwanza movement, a seven-day celebration with African roots.

The price of tickets has yet to be determined, but sponsors say they will be about $25. For more information, (818) 885-2393 or (818) 885-3311.