Black History Month ramps up at Butler

Black Student Union is hosting a variety of speakers and events for students to attend to celebrate Black History Month. Photo courtesy of Butler’s Black Student Union.

OLLIE FITZGERALD | STAFF REPORTER | ofitzgerald@butler.edu

Black History Month occurs every February with a different theme each year set by the Association for the Study of American American Life and History, the founders of Black History Month. This year’s theme is “African Americans and Labor,” which focuses on and aims to highlight how various types of work intersect with the collective Black experience. 

Several organizations across Butler’s campus including Black Student Union (BSU), the Efroymson Diversity Center and the Hub for Black Affairs and Community Engagement (the Hub) are holding events throughout February to focus on celebrating and commemorating Black history. They have developed programming for students from all backgrounds to engage with Black history, especially at Butler. 

Butler University has worked in recent history to acknowledge the value of a diverse group of students. Butler’s founder, Ovid Butler was a known abolitionist. Additionally, the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), or Divine 9, sorority Sigma Gamma Rho was founded on campus in 1922, making it the only Black sorority founded on a predominantly white campus. 

BSU started the month with a kickoff brunch on Feb 1. There will also be speakers and community service events to support organizations like Indianapolis’ MLK Center throughout. At the end of the month, BSU will be hosting a Black leadership memorial to honor and remember the legacy of Black leaders who have passed away and other Black people who have faced oppression such as police brutality. 

Kamarie Fuller-McDade, a junior health sciences major and president of BSU, wants Butler students to understand that BSU isn’t a DEI initiative and is just another club on campus that hosts events for the whole Butler community. They encourage students to come to events, enjoy food and learn more about Black history.

“Black history is American history, and we want to keep educating everyone,” Fuller-McDade said. “All month long [BSU] is putting on programs that are both educational and just fun and relaxing for students to come and learn.”

In partnership with BSU, Butler’s Efroymson Diversity Center will help host the events.

Mikala Lain is the assistant director of the Diversity Center and directly advises identity-based student organizations that are run out of the center, including BSU. Lain encourages Butler students to come to the Diversity Center, even if they feel like they might not fit their own personal definition of “diverse.” 

Lain additionally emphasized that the room is a space for marginalized individuals on campus and stressed the importance of being respectful while visiting the Diversity Center.

“We run into a lot of students saying, ‘Based on my identities, I didn’t know I was allowed in the Diversity Center,’ and we’re constantly trying to combat that because it truly is a place that any student can come in at any time,” Lain said. “We’re constantly trying to find programming and intentionality that creates space for both [safety and openness] to occur at the same time.” 

The Hub, a space where people can engage with Black intellectual scholarship and cultural engagement, will also be hosting a variety of events for Black History Month that they are encouraging students to attend. 

Alexis Newell, the program and administrative coordinator for the Hub, urges students to take the time to do extra research and learn more about Black scholars, cultural figures and those doing community work this February. 

“Their names might not be said every month of the year, but this month, this time, we’re making sure that their names are brought back into that conversation,” Newell said. “It’s important that we’re making space to engage with that and making sure that we’re acknowledging that in some format.”

The Hub hosts a Black Intellectual Series annually, including a variety of film screenings. Dr. Corey Reed, one of the Hub’s faculty directors, will host an open classroom session with guest speakers every Thursday from 2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Jordan Hall Room 141 about African American philosophy, as part of the series and the month. These lectures are eligible for Butler Cultural Requirement credits. 

To learn more about Black History Month and find events to attend, follow BSU, the Hub and the Diversity Center on Instagram. The Diversity Center has a newsletter sign-up QR code on their bulletin board and the Hub has a newsletter sign-up on their website that will detail the events that the groups host throughout the year so students can get involved with diverse communities on and around campus.

Authors

Related posts

Top