Milligan announced its plans to celebrate Black History Month in an email on Friday, with students having significant input into the planning process this year.
“This is about our students and our campus,” said Gwen Ellis, director of multicultural engagement. “It’s really important this year for students to pick.”
Goah Diversity scholars are hosting an art exhibit called Black History Month Collage Project: Finding Unity in Troubling Times in the SUB Feb. 22-28. A virtual concert and lecture on music that fueled the Civil Rights Movement is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 23, with more information to come. A virtual conference hosted by the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities will take place Feb. 25-26, and students can register for free here.
Junior Jenneh Massallay, a first generation immigrant from Liberia, is participating in the collage project and shared her thoughts on Black History Month and it’s meaning.
“I think it’s a very important and informative month for us to be teaching other people,” said Massallay. “But I think it’s also important that it’s not up to Black people to have to teach about what has happened to them in the past and what is happening to them now.”
It can be difficult to understand past events and the experiences of others, but celebrations like Black History Month are meant to highlight the importance of education on such topics as well as the appreciation of the impacted communities.
“We’re focusing on African Americans this month, but that should continue,” said Ellis. “And when we see that across the board, we’ll know we’re successful.”
This month is about celebrating the history and the beauty of America’s Black communities and cultures. The celebration is an extension of what used to be called “Negro History Week”, created by Carter G. Woodson and his organization the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), in 1925 according to africanamericanhistorymonth.gov. It was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 but was expanded to the whole month in 1976.
Since 1928, each Negro History Week and Black History Month has been assigned a theme. The ASALH is responsible for picking the theme each year, and decided on The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity for 2021.
For more information and to honor this celebration, consider these resources:
https://africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/about/
https://asalh.org/black-history-themes/
https://www.nga.gov/features/african-american-artists.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/19/arts/african-american-art-inspiration.html
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/history/african-american-heroes/
Headline photo: Jenneh Massallay poses for a self-portrait she took for a digital photography class last semester. Photo by Jenneh Massallay.