More than a dozen events in February will honor African-American contributions to the campus and the world as Elon University celebrates Black History Month.
The Elon University community celebrates Black History Month in February with guest lectures, film screenings, performances, field trips and more. Organized by the university’s Black History Month Planning Committee, events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.
February 4
Dr. Omari Ali: “Understanding Black History as American History”
Lakeside 214, 7 p.m. ( there will be a reception with light refreshments at 6 p.m.)
Just named the 2016 Carnegie Foundation North Carolina Professor of the Year, Ali will engage the audience in an exploration of how “Black History” is “American History” without glorifying the contributions of men and women of African descent, yet demonstrating their significance in shaping America’s narrative. This project is made possible by funding from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
February 8
Black History Month Film Series: “Slavery by Another Name”
LaRose Digital Theatre, Koury Business Center, 7:30 p.m.
“Slavery by Another Name” challenges one of the country’s most cherished assumptions: the belief that slavery ended with Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. The documentary recounts how in the years following the Civil War, insidious new forms of forced labor emerged in the American South, keeping hundreds of thousands of African Americans in bondage, trapping them in a brutal system that would persist until the onset of World War I.
February 10
Black Student Union Town Hall Meeting
LaRose Digital Theatre, Koury Business Center, 7:30 p.m.
Please join the Black Student Union of Elon University in testing your knowledge of black history in a fun and informative way. Come ready to learn!
February 13
Call to Action: 10th annual Moral March
Meet in front of the Inman Admissions Welcome Center, 8 a.m.
Sponsored by the North Carolina NAACP
The Moral March on Raleigh is part of a love and justice movement. Email the Center for Race, Education and Diversity Education at diversity@elon.edu to sign up.
February 15
Black History Month Film Series: “Freedom Riders”
LaRose Digital Theatre, Koury Business Center, 8 p.m.
“Freedom Riders” is the powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism.
February 16
Dr. Ross Howell: “Forsaken”
Moseley Center 215, 6 p.m.
The April 1912 murder trial of Virginia Christian roiled racial tensions in Hampton, Virginia. An uneducated African-American girl just 5 feet tall, Christian was found guilty of killing her white, 51-year-old employer, a widow. Christian was executed in the electric chair at the state penitentiary in Richmond one day after her 17th birthday. She is the only female juvenile executed in Virginia history.
February 18
UPDATE (2/17/16): THIS EVENT HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN LISTED INCORRECTLY. IT TAKES PLACE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18
Ms. Ella Joyce (E.J.) Stewart: “Sit a Spell”
Global Commons 103, 7 p.m. (there will be a reception with light refreshments at 6 p.m.)
In this presentation, Stewart takes participants on a nostalgic trip back to what was once a staple of the North Carolina agriculture landscape. She invites participants to share their unique culture, or to tell a part of their story on this delightful journey. Or you can simply come and Sit-A-Spell. This project is made possible by funding from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
February 20
Black History Month Field Trip: Greensboro Civil Rights Museum
Meet in the Koury Lot at 9:30 a.m.
Explore the history of the American civil rights movement with a guided tour of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum’s permanent exhibition, “The Battlegrounds.” This engaging encounter, introduced with a captivating audio/video narrative, includes a journey through time via pictorials, artifacts, video reenactments, and interactive components.
February 21
Celebration of Gospel
Lakeside Dining Hall, 4 p.m.
The Gospel Music experience cannot be told in a short story, or even in a melody of songs, for it is far too rich, far too harmonious and deliberately stimulating. It is a living experience, always changing, always giving, and always becoming the foundation that gave moral, physical and spiritual support to a great and powerful people.
February 22
Race-nicity (open only for faculty & staff)
Moseley Center 215, 12-1:15 p.m.
The Center for Race, Ethnicity, & Diversity Education presents our Race-nicity February Lunch and Learn series. The Race-nicity lunch series for the month of February will focus on the Black male experience in higher education. Please join us as our student panel will share their stories.
If you plan to attend please RSVP to Marilyn Slade at mslade3@elon.edu no later than February 15. Lunch will be provided to the first 20 people to RSVP.
February 22
Black History Month Film Series: “The Loving Story”
LaRose Digital Theatre, Koury Business Center, 7:30 p.m.
“The Loving Story” is a story of love and the struggle for dignity set against a backdrop of historic anti-miscegenation sentiments in the United States. The Lovings, an interracial couple, fell in love and married at a critical time in American history, and because of a confluence of social and political turmoil, our reluctant heroes bring about change where previously no one else could. They are paired with two young and ambitious lawyers who are driven to pave the way for Civil Rights and social justice through an historic Supreme Court ruling, changing the country’s story forever.
February 24
Being White @ Elon: Conversations about Privilege
McKinnon Hall, Moseley Center, 6:30 p.m.
Talking about privilege can be hard! This will be an honest conversation exploring privilege related to race. The interactive workshop is student-led and open to all students.
February 25
Black History Month Poetry and Open-Mic Night
Location TBA, 6 p.m.
The name says it all. See the talents of fellow students at Elon University. Performances will range from singing to dance to spoken word. Come out and enjoy! If you would like to participate, send your information to: blackstudentunion@elon.edu
February 26
Amistad We Stand (Directed & choreographed by Assistant Professor Jason Aryeh)
McCrary Theatre, 7:30 p.m.
A performance production that seeks to explain the nature of something that should not have happened. Specifically, “Dancing the Slave Story” is inspired by a research project conducted on some of the incidents which occurred in the dungeons and within the castle through the “door of no return” to the ship during the period of slave trade in the Cape Coast and Elmina slave castles in Ghana from about 1672 to the 1800s. A choreographer’s own interpretation as artist, of events and personalities whose journey of courage and defiance stand chronicled in historical accounts of the period.