MCLA recognizes and celebrates Black history in February and all year, and we are grateful for the contributions of our Black students, faculty members, and colleagues. For 2022, different departments and offices on campus have developed their own events throughout February. Below is a list of opportunities for the MCLA community to celebrate Black History Month, share Black stories, learn about the Black experience in America, and more.
If you would like further Information or are having difficulty accessing a link please contact arlene.theodore@mcla.edu.
Location: Sullivan Lounge
Come out and enjoy a series of fun games that teach you about blackness and black history! These games will be both social and educational. Games Included—Black Card Revoked, Urban Trivia, and Black History Month Flash cards.
Location: Campus Center Gym
Staff and Faculty of Color will be able to participate in a healing and restorative
workshop to build our resilience for navigating racism and oppression in the workplace.
Location: Empowerment Lounge
Join Latin American Society in celebrating Afro-Latin music, while dancing away the night with some Afro-Latin music. Beef, Cheese and Chicken Empanadas will be provided!
Platform: Teams
Critical Race Theory & Black Intellectualism: An Honors Program Tribute to Black Critical
Race Theorists
Over the past year, 35 states have banned teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT) in k-12
schools throughout the nation (Education Week). CRT first emerged as a post-graduate curriculum in law schools, how can this curriculum
be taught in elementary schools? MCLA Honors Program is pleased to sponsor a student-led
event that seeks to demystify the current controversy around CRT by highlighting examples
of work by Critical Race Theorists like Derrick A. Bell, Jr., Patricia J. Williams,
Russell K. Robinson, Charles R. Lawrence III, and Kimberlé Crenshaw, to name a few.
Honors Studies in HON 201: American Ethnic Studies will each highlight the work of
an important intellectual and why this work is particularly meaningful for them.
This event is open to the MCLA community. If you have questions, please contact Hannah Haynes (Hannah.Haynes@mcla.edu).
Platform: Zoom
Meeting ID: 959 5404 3993
This session will be led by Val Bastien, who received his M.S. in Industrial Organizational Psychology. Val is a formal mental health counselor, who has transitioned to the art of relationship coaching. Val will share his journey as a black man helping black love foster and grow while identifying the Issues that hinder the black community romantically. He will break down the new term “struggle love” and why this has been so prominent within the black community. We will explore the connection between upbringing, mental health, trauma and the challenge to love correctly the first time. He will conclude this session with giving us the tools and resources to build healthy and effective relationships.
Platform: Virtual
Join us Feb. 18 from 3:30 – 4:30 P.M. for a virtual celebration of Black History &
music with MCLA alumnus DJ Bengey (Bengey Asse ’06). DJ Bengey will highlight the
influence of Black artists on music genres, and on other musical artists, as we celebrate
Black history together.
This program is free and open to the public.
Location: Murdock 218
Come out and enjoy some Caribbean Cuisine with catered food from BB’s Hot Spot located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Platform: Teams
Join us for a celebration and collaborative reading of bell hooks as we honor and pay tribute to her work and impact.
Location: Empowerment Lounge
Description: How do you practice self-care? Come join BSU as we discuss how we practice self-care during our college years. Enjoy freebies and goodies such as face masks and a journal to get you started for the semester ahead.
Location: Sullivan Lounge
Description: Think you know black history and pop culture? Join BSU for our 3rd annual Black Bingo night to enjoy a night of bingo, snacks, and prizes!
Location: Via Zoom – Free and open to all
Freel Library Author Talk
Armando Alleyne is an artist and a poet who graduated from The City College of New
York with a B.A. in Education and Fine Arts in 1983. Alleyne will walk us through
his recently published monograph, A Few of My Favorites, and speak on the contexts and (hi)stories that urged him to develop and create his
painted and collaged renditions of jazz musicians, Afro-Latin singers, boxers, family
members and friends. Alleyne’s lifetime of painting tells a story of how we are subject
to our city and how in it we can search for the tools to heal.
Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_N-vi2qxVQZmDe9HF08CYJg
Stop by the library to check out our selection of 50 recently published books spanning many aspects of Black history and culture. You can also browse the list of display books in the library catalog.
MCLA Gallery 51 is excited to collaborate with artist Lorenzo Baker to present What happens if February never ends? to offer 365 days of Black History. As we continue to discuss the Black history within art history, this project expands what we know and includes what has been omitted, in the context of Baker's ongoing practice and research. We will launch a simultaneous Instagram takeover by the artist, starting on January 1, 2022 and ending December 31, 2022, at @gallery_51. Look for complimentary programming on our 2022 Calendar of Events throughout the year.
february is a digital collage series by Lorenzo Baker that expands and explores the definitions of Black History. Looking at history from a unique vantage point, the daily project offers viewers insight into what is commonly known as Black History Month.
The push for celebrating Black History Month began in the 1920s, with the work of Historian Carter G. Woodson, who proposed in 1926 that, "It is not so much a Negro History Week as it is a History Week. We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in History. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hatred and religious prejudice". Motivated by the achievements Carter. G Woodson, february extends the argument that the achievements, moments, and record of Black people should be commemorated well beyond the standardized 28/29-day long window.
Sourcing from the principles of Afrofuturism, which override western approaches to time, space, and meaning, february began by addressing the question “what happens if February never ends?” Utilizing historical photographs, documents, illustrations, and images sourced from the internet, the artworks bend the viewers understanding of what is worth historizing. As a daily meditation on Black History, each artwork blends and incorporates new or obscure information and data into depictions of well-known and unfamiliar icons within the black historical cosmos.
Please see the project here: https://www.mcla.edu/mcla-in-the-community/bcrc/mcla-gallery-51/365-black-history/january.php
