Black History Month can unite

For some students, the monthlong celebration is a way to explore their own heritage. For others, it’s about sharing it with their peers.

Jason Fuller, a senior, said celebrating in a college setting “is essential to the overall growth of students.”

“Students can go from tunnel vision because they’re just focused on school. … It really gives a whole picture,” Fuller said.

Sitting in a small conference room at the recently relocated African American Student Services center at Mesa Vista Hall, Fuller said exposing all students to Black History Month in February helps them connect with each other.

The center is hosting a month’s worth of activities, including workshops, game nights, a poetry slam and lectures focused on an aspect of black history.

Fuller, who is double majoring in journalism and Africana studies, said one of the highlights of the events is a lecture on “the black experience” that he expects will draw hundreds of students.

“(Students) will be informed of the black experience and what it really means,” Fuller said.

For Christina Foster, a student who works at African American Student Services, publicly celebrating Black History Month is extremely important because of the university’s small number of black students.

“The population being so tiny, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle of who you are and what you are. The events that they put on, to me, are extremely important because you get a well-rounded sense of culture,” Foster said.

For example, African American Student Services is hosting a Battle of the Sexes game night where students will talk about relationships between black men and women.

Foster, who is graduating in May, said the center spends weeks organizing the activities.

“You just get this wide array of activities that I feel like you’re not going to get through any other avenue on campus outside of the African American Student Services and African Studies. (It’s) just a complete and total immersion into your culture,” she said.

Teresa Woods, for whom the center is a “home away from home,” said she appreciates that the events are not just fun, but informative.

“Black History Month is highly important because I feel like it gives us a chance to pride ourselves on where we come from, what we’ve come from,” Woods said.

Woods, a senior studying secondary education, is trying to add a Jeopardy-type trivia game at the end of February to quiz students on what they learned during the month.

“I think (Black History Month) should be all year long. I celebrate my heritage all year long,” she said.