For Zachary Brooks, a graduate student in Temple’s department of Africology, Black History Month is more than a single month of celebration — it’s an institution.
“It’s something that’s used to remind African American people and African people that the Black History Month is supposed to be where you celebrate your yearly celebration, or your yearly research of Black people year-round,” Brooks said.
The month was established by historian and author Carter Woodson in 1976 and serves as a reminder to African Americans and people of African descent to revisit their history and celebrate their identity not only in February, but year-round.
Temple is hosting a series of events throughout February to observe Black History Month. The department of Africology and African American Studies kicked off the month on Feb. 3 by unveiling a plaque commemorating 13 young Black scholars who fought for Black studies departments to be established in American academia. There are also a number of other events planned for the remainder of the month.
The event on Feb. 3, on the eighth floor of Gladfelter Hall, was attended by about a dozen students and led by two professors from the department.
The 13 young scholars were part of a protest of more than 100 students at Harvard University, The Crimson reported. The protest lasted eight days and gained momentum after the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. The students demanded Harvard to include Black studies in its curriculum, employ more Black faculty members and admit a proportional percentage of Black students.
“Especially at Temple University, it was important for us to do something in the memorandum of Black studies,” said Ifetayo Flannery, an Africology professor. “The first ever Ph.D. program in the world in Black studies was established right here at Temple.”
The plaque was designed by Brooks, a long-time student of African studies at Temple, who was inspired to create a piece of art that would impart the need to renew the Africology Department’s mission.
“The significance of the piece is to remind other students that come to the Department of Africology to be principled scholars, to be noble scholars, and to really try to use their scholarship and their intellectual skills to advance causes of social justice and to fix problems that plague our communities,” Brooks said.
The plaque reveal served as the introduction to a suite of events by the department throughout the month. Upcoming events include a game night, a “Collage & Sip” and a conference on the Underground Railroad and Black history.
Other organizations at Temple also plan to host Black History Month events. The School of Film and Media Arts will host a presentation by professor Kimmika Willams-Witherspoon discussing the representation of African women in Euripides’ Medea and its contribution to the myths about blackness for Black women on Feb. 18 at the Temple Performing Arts Center.
IDEAL is hosting a Legacy of Black and LGBTQIA+ Artists lunch at the Tuttleman Learning Center on Feb. 19 and Charles Library will host a Black Graduate Student Mixer on Feb. 19 on the first floor.
By coordinating these events in tandem with Black History Month, the university seeks to preserve the legacy of the holiday, highlighting its enduring importance and providing a variety of celebrations for students throughout the month.
“It’s about not just uplifting our ancestors, the people that have passed away,” said Essence Gaines, a junior Africology and English major who attended the ceremony Feb. 3. “But it’s also about assisting the people who are alive.”
David Brown, assistant dean for community and communications at the Klein College of Media and Communication, believes Black History Month is reflected through Temple’s students and faculty who maintain and carry forward its significance well beyond the month.
Still, Brown wishes for more awareness among the students and greater engagement in finding and telling Black stories at Temple.
“Black history is American history,” Brown said, “I think that Black history needs to be incorporated in everything we do. There are people who have been nameless, and unless we tell their stories, those stories don’t get told.”
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