February Events to Mark Black History Month

01/24/2017 

SUNY Cortland’s Africana Studies Department has put together a full calendar of Black History Month (BHM) events spanning throughout February. They include panel presentations, guest lectures, Sandwich Seminar discussions and a music and dance performance to culminate the month-long celebration for the College and the community.

“As the American ethos is being interrogated all around the world after the 2016 presidential election, it is hope-affirming that our faculty and students are transcending the general atmosphere of divineness, and coming together to celebrate some of America’s history, collective experiences, culture, precepts, norms, intellectual thoughts and using Black History Month as a platform for finding answers to critical issues facing our country,” said SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Seth Asumah, chair of SUNY Cortland’s Africana Studies Department and organizer of the month’s activities.

“Black History Month 2017 includes presenters from each of the College’s three schools— arts and sciences, education and professional studies,” Asumah said. “The synergism and collaborative spirit associated with SUNY Cortland’s Black History Month events are indicative of the human condition and what SUNY Cortland and the United States stand for.”

BHM campus events will be posted online in the College’s home page calendar. Events are open to the public and free unless otherwise noted. Events include:

Wednesday, Feb. 1

Sandwich Seminar: “Black is Not a Color of the Rainbow: How the Harlem Hell Fighters Became America’s Most Decorated Regiment,” by Sam Kelley, Communications and Africana Studies departments, Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, 12:30 p.m.

Panel Discussion: “Making America Great? Historians Reflect on President Donald Trump and the 2016 Election,” Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, 7-8:30 p.m.

Professors from the History Department will present as follows:

Girish Bhat: “US-Russia Relations: Back to the Future?”

Ben DeLee: “America’s Caesar”

Evan Faulkenbury: “The Long History of Voter Suppression since 1865”

Scott Moranda: “Weimar Germany and Trump’s America”

Luo Xu: “US — China Relations: What is at Stake”

Thursday, Feb. 2

Sandwich Seminar: “Recruiting and Preparing Teachers of Color: The Promise and Challenge of Efforts to Diversify the American Teaching Force,” by Anne Burns Thomas, Foundations and Social Advocacy Department, Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, noon.

Speaker: “The Shackles of Systemic Oppression: Prisons and Government Assistance,” by Tenisha Howard, Rutgers University, City University of New York (CUNY) and City College of New York.

Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 8

Sandwich Seminar: “Black Music Matters: A concert of Art, Classical and Jazz Music,” by Edward Moore, Performing Arts Department, Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, 12:30 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 9

Sandwich Seminar: “R&B and Motown to Rap,” by Lewis Rosengarten, Africana Studies Department and EOP, Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, noon.

Tuesday, Feb. 14

Speaker: “That Old #Blackgirlmagic: Inclusive Excellence as an American Standard Redux,” by Marita Gilbert, director of the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center at SUNY Oneonta, Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 15

Sandwich Seminar: “Multidisciplinary Diversity: Race, Gender, Place and Diasporic Sites,” presented by Ibipo Johnston-Anumomwo, Geography Department, Mecke Nagel, Philosophy and Africana Studies departments and the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies, and Seth N. Asumah, Africana Studies and Political Science departments, Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, 12:30 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 16

Sandwich Seminar: “The Malden Meteor: Louise Stokes Fraser and Her Journey Through Sports in Jim Crow America,” by Susan Rayl, Kinesiology Department, Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, noon.

Speaker: “‘Shoot First’: Stand Your Ground Laws, Murder and Race,” by Distinguished Service Professor Robert Spitzer, Political Science Department, Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, 4:30 p.m.

Lecture: “What’s Your Green Dot? Dealing with Power-Based Violence,” Corey Union Caleion Room, 7:15 p.m.

Monday, Feb. 20

Performance: Soul-Mic Showcase, Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 22

Sandwich Seminar: “Afro-Germans: Borderless and Brazen,” by Anne Adams, Africana Studies Department, Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, 12:30 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 23

Sandwich Seminar: “Martin Luther King Jr., the Voter Education Project, and the Financing of the Civil Rights Movement in the American South,” by history professor Evan Faulkenbury, Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, noon.

Panel Presentation: “Pan-Africanism: Are the Caribbean and Africa Rising?” presented by the Humphrey Fellows Panel from Syracuse University, Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, 4:30 p.m.

The panel includes four of the 13 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows that are spending the 2016-17 year at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School for graduate academic study, professional development and cultural exchange.

Saturday, Feb. 25

Performance: SUNY Cortland Gospel Choir, Rock and Blues Ensemble and Africana Dance, Old Main Brown Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Black History Month sponsors include the College President’s Office; the Provost’s Office; the School of Arts and Sciences; the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies; the Africana Studies, Philosophy and Political Science departments; Campus Artists and Lecture Series; Black Student Union; and the Pan African Student Association.

For more information, contact Asumah at 607-753-2064.