On Monday, Feb. 5, Uni held its first-ever Black History Month assembly to commemorate and recognize Black History Month around the Uni community.
The assembly consisted of two guest speakers: a speech from Dr. Augustus Wood, an assistant professor at the School of Labor Relations; and a poetry reading by 2023-24 Urbana Poet Laureate Ja Nelle Davenport-Pleasure, says Uni English Teacher and Coordinator of Equity and Public Engagement Valerie O’Brien.
Students also presented on the history of the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and Uni’s chorus performed the song.
An upcoming Uni event on ballroom culture and voguing was also previewed by a Uni student. The assembly finished off with a community line dance.
At the beginning of the assembly, Uni Associate Director Karl Radnitzer also announced his retirement, effective next year.
O’Brien spoke about the inaugural assembly.
“Uni has hosted an open mic event for the past four years to celebrate Black History Month, but we haven’t really recognized it in other ways,” she says. “Dr. Majerus [Uni Director] decided an all-school assembly would be a good way towards increasing our school’s recognition of the month.”
Uni students Jacque Butts, Brianna Gibson, and Ben Newman helped emcee the assembly.
“[It was] very nice, considering it’s the first year that we’ve done the assembly. We were scared it wouldn’t be very good. I think it was nice, considering we only had a week to plan it out,” says Gibson.
The SSO’s theme for this month, displayed on a bulletin board across from the Student Services Office, is “Black History is American History.” This theme was emphasized within the assembly.
Uni is also hosting other events throughout February in honor of Black History Month.
On Tuesday, Feb. 20, junior Willie Fowler hosted a presentation on ballroom culture and voguing in Uni Gym during lunch.
On Friday, Feb. 23, Uni parents Dr. Karen Flynn and Dr. Trina Wright-Dixon are hosting a cooking class based on the “rich traditions of African American and Black diasporic cooking,” as O’Brien wrote in a Feb. 20 email. Students will help prepare curry chicken, dirty rice, and Caribbean punch.
Uni will also be holding its 4th annual Black History Month Open Mic in the Uni Library on Tuesday, Feb. 27, after school. Students are encouraged to share “a short reading by a favorite Black writer, artist, or thinker,” writes O’Brien, or simply come to watch the event.
On Thursday, Feb. 29, local artists Stacy Robinson and Kamau Grantham will be giving an artist talk on their collaborative project BLACKMAU .
According to its website, BLACKMAU aims to “demystify the weightier conversations of Black people’s erasure from future spaces, by creating images that are to be interpreted through a visually strange or obscure discourse.”
Attendees will learn about Robinson and Grantham’s work and artistic processes.
“This year, we’re trying to do better as a school to recognize and celebrate Black History Month,” O’Brien says.
