College celebrates Black History Month with events, education

AuBree Burk
2/17/12

As the month of February and Black History Month carries on, William Jewell College has different activities and displays set up to educate and remind students and faculty of African-American history and culture.
Dr. Cecelia Robinson, professor of  English, believes inclusion is vital for all communities, but for William Jewell in particular.
“This year is the first year in the history of William Jewell that we have so much diversity on this campus. It is important to be included when you are in a minority on a small campus like this,” Robinson said. “Inclusion involves coming in and seeing part of your culture highlighted”.
“Overall, for me, Black History Month highlights the pioneers from history.  I’ve always heard the saying, ‘You don’t know where you’re going, until you know where you’ve been’,” Quincee Jackson, interim coordinator of Multicultural Programming, said.
Since the College has a short history of celebrating diversity on campus, Asia Toombs, sophomore, believes it is important to celebrate Black History Month, so it can help with community development.
“Black History Month events and special displays are important at Jewell because it allows our campus community to unite and it also helps us African-Americans communicate better,” Toombs said.
Black Student Association President Chriska Francois, junior, said that it is BSA’s mission to educate and draw attention to Black History Month. “BSA’s goal is to expose the campus to African-American history, culture and traditions,” Francois said.
“Everyone has heard of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, it is import for us to expose the parts of our history that are generally overlooked,” Jackson said.  BSA has a table in the Union featuring a different underrated character of African-American history every week.
The table in the Union is not the only way William Jewell students can celebrate Black History Month. The cafeteria is featuring soul food every Wednesday, and the stairs in the Union are lined with red, yellow and green, symbolic colors in African-American history.  Tuesday, BSA sponsored the Love and Soul event in honor of Valentine’s Day.
 “We are all part of the human community and we all celebrate diversity, but I think Black History Month in particular is import to celebrate because it plays such a big role,” Francois said.
 “We are in a growing and diverse country, so it is important to celebrate all cultures and history.  We can make a collective history that is comprehensive of all different nationalities at Jewell,” Jackson said.
Robinson said that she believes it is important to not just celebrate African-American history during February or January, “I am always going to be dealing with the majority, constantly, and feeling included in a community is important. Black History Month and the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in January, are examples of ways of including African-American celebration on campus and in the community, but it must go beyond those events.”
Jackson said that she is still trying to gage how the College celebrates Black History Month.
 “Every time we embrace who and what we are as people it helps give students a different perspective,” Jackson said, “having our history spotlighted is so vital to Jewell and us as human beings. This is a prime time for African-Americans to start digging deep into our history and finding out things we have never acknowledged or overlooked.”