Infographic by Kalliope Craft
The month of February is Black History month and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will be hosting several events in celebration of this month. Black History Month kicks off tonight with the first event featuring poet Joshua Bennett at 7:00 p.m. in Albert Taylor Hall.
“We bring in a lot of great keynote speakers throughout the school year that do a great job at educating our students and faculty that come to those events,” said Deanna Williams, director of diversity programs. “We also like to just bring in artists from time to time to shake things up and allow messages to be presented in a different medium, such as Joshua Bennett and his ability to convey his thoughts and feelings on a variety of topics through spoken word poetry.”
Other events this month include speaker Joy Degruy at 6:00 p.m. on Feb. 8 in ATH, a skate night from 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. on Feb. 15 at Rollers, 701 Graham Street and a Black Panther movie event at 10:00 p.m. on Feb. 16 at Flint Hills Cinema, 1614 Industrial Rd.
“All of these events are free,” Williams said. “However, our Black Panther movie premier showing at Flint Hills cinema is first come first serve for the first 100 students that are at the event with a valid student ID.”
Along with her speech on Feb. 8, Degruy will also be hosting a workshop in the morning for community professionals who work in the fields of mental and psychical health, according to Jason Brooks, assistant dean of students for diversity, equity and inclusion.
“She (Degruy) will be doing a more in-depth conversation on the facts and the research of post traumatic slave syndrome and how it affects African American Communities,” Brooks said. “But also other communities of color on why some communities act the way they do based on some of the stress and the genetic pass down from generation to generation.”
“Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of blacks in U.S. history,” according to History.com.
Planning for Black History Month began during the latter half of the fall semester with finalizations beginning in January.