UNM Black History Month Events Announced

Sonia Gipson Rankin, associate dean of University College, announces a variety of events to recognize Black History Month. Last Friday, Feb. 1, individuals met at African American Student Services (AASS) to take part in a flag raising ceremony. Following, all returned to AASS to tour their recently-remodeled center.

A.L.O.T. of Words
Speak them loud and proud: Join Africana Lead­er­ship Oppor­tu­nity Team in front of Mesa Vista Hall every Tues­day and Thurs­day from noon to 2 p.m. dur­ing Black His­tory Month. Speeches, thoughts, poetry, and words of sig­nif­i­cant Black peo­ple to your com­mu­nity, Harlem Renais­sance style. Come to lis­ten. Come to bring your voice. Feb­ru­ary 5, 7, 12, 14, 19, 21, 26, 28.

Fri­day, Feb. 8: African Amer­i­can Day at the State Capi­tol
Stu­dents, fac­ulty and staff are encour­aged to travel to the State Capi­tol dur­ing the Leg­isla­tive ses­sion for African Amer­i­can Day at the State Capitol.

Mon­day, Feb. 11, 10 a.m.: Post Grad­u­ate Oppor­tu­nity Work­shop at African Amer­i­can Stu­dent Ser­vices
Mul­ti­ple avenues for post-graduate oppor­tu­ni­ties will be pre­sented. Guests from Black Grad­u­ate and Pro­fes­sional Stu­dent Asso­ci­a­tion, Black Law School Association.

Mon­day, Feb. 18: Black Greek Let­ter Orga­ni­za­tion: Round­table dis­cussing the his­tory and legacy of Black Greek life in col­leges. For more details, con­tact: Don Tra­han.

Wednes­day, Feb. 20: Night of Inspi­ra­tion: Mt. Olive Bap­tist Church will share the his­tor­i­cal role of the Black church in Black stu­dent devel­op­ment. For more details, con­tact: Don Tra­han.

“Diver­sity: A Myth in Edu­ca­tional Insti­tu­tions“
Pre­sented by Dr Harold Bai­ley, Wednes­day, Feb. 20 at UNM Domenici West Room 3010
This talk gives the audi­ence a his­tor­i­cal view of the Amer­i­can edu­ca­tional sys­tem and its insti­tu­tional design, show­ing how pub­lic schools and insti­tu­tions of higher learn­ing appar­ently do not embrace diver­sity and some­times fight against it. The pre­sen­ter con­tends that diver­sity ini­tia­tives are dif­fi­cult to imple­ment because of issues related to race, class, pol­i­tics and pri­or­i­ties. Addi­tion­ally, it takes a col­lec­tive strat­egy to accom­plish diver­sity, inclu­sion and equity in schools, col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties. If those groups, which have been his­tor­i­cally dis­en­fran­chised, are not at the table, then diver­sity will not be achieved.

For more infor­ma­tion, visit:HSC Diver­sity

Mon­day, Feb. 25: The Color of Fear: Film view­ing in African Amer­i­can Stu­dent Ser­vices. For more details, con­tact: Don Tra­han.

Guest Lec­tures in The African World

Dur­ing Black His­tory Month, a series of guest speak­ers will visit in Africana Stud­ies 385, The African World class on Tues­days and Thurs­days, in Feb­ru­ary. Speak­ers will high­light dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives on African and African Dias­pora stud­ies. The guests in the month of Feb­ru­ary are: Lawrence Strauss, UNM dis­tin­guished pro­fes­sor of anthro­pol­ogy and an African­ist scholar; Osborn Pear­son, scholar in evo­lu­tion­ary arche­ol­ogy of Africa and pro­fes­sor at UNM; and Kim­berly Gau­d­er­man, pro­fes­sor of His­tory and a scholar on Black expe­ri­ence in Latin America.

For infor­ma­tion on loca­tions and times, please con­tact Admasu Shunkuri

Tues­day, March 5: The Black Hole: Art Exhibit

Join Africana Lead­er­ship Oppor­tu­nity Team and Third World Out­liers from 8:30 a.m. — 2:30 p.m. in the SUB atrium for art for and about the peo­ple. This is a forum to show what you’ve been cook­ing up! Look­ing for art cov­er­ing a broad range of themes but con­cern­ing the human expe­ri­ence, oppressed peo­ples, social jus­tice, injus­tice, indige­nous peo­ples, eth­nic peo­ples, social move­ment, and polit­i­cal move­ments. Wel­com­ing sub­mis­sions from all medi­ums and types such as acrylic pieces, mixed-media com­po­si­tions, spo­ken word, sculptures/3-D, live paint­ing, live per­for­mance etc. For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact: UNM ALOT.

TBD in early March: My Black is… New Mex­ico: Cel­e­brat­ing Black Women in New Mex­ico. Africana Stud­ies will host a panel dis­cus­sion explor­ing, cel­e­brat­ing, and doc­u­ment­ing the his­tory of Black women in the State of New Mexico.

Media Con­tact: Car­olyn Gon­za­les (505) 277‑5920; email: cgonzal@unm.edu