The University of Idaho Office of Multicultural Affairs — in collaboration with other offices and organizations — will host various events celebrating Black History Month throughout February.
Faculty, staff, students and community members who form the MLK and Black History Month Planning Committee are in charge of organizing the events.
“The planning committee is the one that makes the decisions about what events to have, what speakers to bring, what films to show, things like that,” Program Coordinator Vivi Gonzalez said. “It does come out of [OMA]. We organize the planning committee.”
Vivi Gonzalez | Courtesy
Black History Month celebrations in Moscow began Feb. 4, with a showing of the film “I Am Not Your Negro,” sponsored by the LGBTQA Office.
Ty-Ron Douglas was scheduled to give the keynote speech Wednesday, but had to cancel due to hazardous weather. Douglas is now set to visit campus in two weeks.
“[Douglas] is coming from the University of Missouri with a lot of experience in black studies, as well as a lot of work with student athletes and identity development work, with specifically black males,” Gonzalez said. “We are very excited to have him on our campus. He was recommended by one of the planning committee members, Sydney Freeman from the (UI) College of Education.”
The MLK and Black History Month Planning Committee will also sponsor Frederick Douglass Exhibit, which will be on display outside the Student Diversity Center Thursday until Feb. 21. According to the OMA website, the exhibit focuses on slavery, with various artifacts including a letter from Douglass to his former slave owner Hugh Auld and a broadside from the American Anti-Slavery Society entitled “Slave Market of America.”
“[The exhibit] is being sent to us by a foundation called The Gilder Lehrman Traveling Exhibition,” Gonzalez said. “It includes pictures and cutouts from newspapers and magazines all about what Frederick Douglass was doing in the abolitionist movement. It’s great.”
In addition, the Black Student Union is sponsoring a cultural showcase 6 p.m. Feb. 26 in Bruce Pitman Center’s Vandal Ballroom. Various performances and activities will commemorate the historical contributions of African American individuals to United States, as well as the world at large.
“The details are still being worked out, so I don’t want to get too much into it,” Gonzalez said. “That one is being put on by students, so we’re working with them to see what they want to see, what they want to do. We know that they want to celebrate black culture through dance, through performance, through poetry. It’ll depend, we’re still working through that.”
At the end of the month, the National Society of Black Engineers is hosting their annual NSBE-UI Dynamic Engineers Lecture Series. Alex Merritt — business manager of General Mills Natural and Organic Agriculture Operations — is set to speak 5 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Idaho Commons Clearwater Room. Although a free dinner will be provided, a reservation is required, which can be made by e-mailing [email protected].“It’s open to all students,” Gonzalez said. “It’s always very interesting to hear and it’s very empowering for the students to see a person of color working for these huge companies and being so successful in their field.”
The last event tied to Black History Month will also celebrate Women’s History Month 6 p.m. March 21, with a keynote address from Franchesca Ramsey.
“I’ve seen Franchesca — she’s a vlogger — so I’ve seen her videos on YouTube,” Gonzalez said. “We actually use some of her videos for our trainings on diversity. She is hilarious, she always talks about very prevalent issues going on in our communities.”
Gonzalez encourages everyone to attend, not only to learn, but to be entertained and become more culturally aware.