Home Fox Valley UWGB marks Black History Month with series of events around Black joy

UWGB marks Black History Month with series of events around Black joy

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Today is the beginning of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Black Student Union (BSU) Black History Month celebration. Their Black History Month Kickoff event is today in the University Union Booth. Throughout this month, the BSU has events planned to honor and celebrate Black history including a paint night, a soul food dinner, and a cookout that will have various activities including creating crafts and karaoke. Miriam Brabham, co-advisor of the BSU, supported the BSU E-board in the planning and executing these BHM events. 

“We worked with the students to really see what their vision for Black History Month was,” said Brabham. “As employees of the university, we just tried to help with implementation of those ideas and their vision. We were just very thankful that the university has supported us, to enable us to have so much virtual communication. We’re able to host those meetings virtually and get a lot of business conducted virtually. So that we could do this in spite of people traveling, in spite of illness and all of that so we can maintain campus safety while planning a full month of events.”

There will also be many other events including a movie showing and discussion of Judas & the Black Messiah on Wednesday, February 3 at 6:00 pm in the Christie Theatre. 

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“I think all of the events are going to be great,” said Brabham. “The BSU E-board has a really great vision for how they want Black History Month to look this year. As one of the co-advisors for BSU, we have seen them tackle some heavier topics in their meetings. This is where they really were kind of giving space for students of color. Not just African American students, but just students of color and their allies, to really discuss how they felt about some of the things that were happening this past year. And that was where I think a lot of the events for Black History Month were given space to be a little bit more fun and a little bit less heavy, just because there is so much that they tackle and grapple with throughout the year.”

Another event the BSU has planned is Makin’ Cake with Wisconsin Poet Laureate Dasha Kelly Hamilton on Thursday, February 10 in the Phoenix Rooms, where Hamilton will explore the story of race and class in America through a history of cake. The Writing Workshop is at 2:00 pm followed by the Makin’ Cake performance at 6:00 pm. Brabham also talked about the welcoming Cotillion event, to celebrate and honor the accomplishments of Black students on campus, on Saturday, February 19th, from 7:00-10:00 pm in the Weidner Center. 

“This is not a traditional cotillion, for many reasons,” Brabham said. “One of them is just because the BSU E-board really wanted to be inclusive, to the LGBTQIA community. This is where there’s no gender restriction on escorts or debutantes or anything like that. There’s not a strict dress code. These are the things where they want to display and express their history, but they want to make their mark that they are an emerging part of our community and that they really want to honor those identities that exist within our community. I think that that was very important for them. I’m really excited to see that.”

For more information about the UW-Green Bay’s BSU Black History Month events, visit: https://www.uwgb.edu/student-engagement/bhm/.