This year’s Black History Month follows a campus-wide conversation about race, lending extra importance to the month’s schedule of programs, students said.
Several student groups and University departments have put on events this month and more are in the works.
The Department of African American Studies and the Department of Multicultural Student Affairs are sponsoring a series of guest speakers, activities and discussions, many of which were planned by students in Northwestern’s black community, said Bradley Akubuiro, a director of Minorities in Business and an ambassador with the NU Ambassadors Program.
“Black History Month is a moment to step back and have a moment of community,” the Medill junior said. “We have very small numbers on this campus. This is an opportunity for black students to have solidarity.”
The forum that followed the Halloween blackface incident this fall brought special attention to the importance of this month, Akubuiro said. He said the dialogue that emerged from the situation has increased interest and attendance at this year’s events from all students, regardless of race.
The incident was counterproductive to the efforts of minority student groups on campus, said Camille Edwards , vice coordinator of Satellites and Affiliates of For Members Only and an intern for Multicultural Student Affairs.
“It hurt my feelings,” the Communication junior said. “You’re undoing all of the work I’ve been doing here for the past three years.”
Still, Edwards said the black community is trying to move on from the incident with the beginning of the new year.
“No one wanted that negative energy,” she said.
The conflict “brought the community closer and opened up the discussion about race,” Vanessa Rivas-Lopez said. The Weinberg senior is president of One Step Before, the minority pre-med organization on campus.
Rivas-Lopez said the purpose of Black History Month is to remember what has been accomplished in the past and to know what needs improvement in the future to make the community stronger.
She said she helped plan this year’s annual winter speaker, Dr. Anthony Monroe. At the end of the month, he will lecture about restructuring the health care system and how closing urban health facilities creates disparities.
Akubuiro said this year’s national theme, “The History of Black Economic Empowerment,” gives the black community the opportunity to take a look at the past and learn from those who have preceded them in history.
“Blacks in today’s society are not in a place to succeed,” Akubuiro said. Groups like NU’s Minorities in Business facilitate discussions and host speakers in an attempt to fix this problem, he said.
Akubuiro said one of the goals of the month is to give students outside the black community an opportunity to see the rich culture through programming and activities.
“This is an inclusive community that they can be a part of regardless of race,” he said.
“This month is a great rallying force for growth and integration as a community.”Edwards said NU’s black community is diverse and accepting, “a mosaic of rejected peoples.”
She said it can be challenging to think of new programs because the core concepts of Black History Month, such as civil rights, equality and empowerment, are concepts many students have been learning about their entire lives.
“It’s important for us to be exposed to programming that is very applicable to today, ” she said. “You don’t want the programs to stay the same year after year.”
Edwards said in previous years there has been a struggle for autonomy in the black community due to lack of funding and University recognition. She said the issue has improved greatly since the inauguration of University President Morton O. Schapiro.
“He’s having the difficult conversations,” Edwards said. “This year I felt the school was involved and invested (in the black community). I don’t know if it’s because of President Schapiro or (Associated Student Government President) Mike McGee, but there has been a shift, and I can see it and I appreciate it.”
Edwards said Black History Month means more to her every year.
“It is all-encompassing,” she said. “We try hard to recognize everyone, not just the struggles and trials and tribulations of just African Americans. We make it about everyone, the whole diasporic peoples. And that’s a beautiful thing.”[email protected]
