OCU celebrates Black History Month Events included steps, movie nights, panel discussion, kickback

Last week marked the end of Black History Month, a nationally recognized celebration that pays tribute to the contributions of generations of African Americans and Black individuals despite the adversity they face in American society.

First celebrated as only a weeklong endeavor in 1926, Black History Month reached its current duration in 1976, and since then it has been celebrated in a plethora of educational, informative, and simply fun ways.

RELIGIOUS LIFE

• March 8: International

Women’s Day; ODEI International Women’s Day Movie Night

• March 13: Spring break begins

• March 17: St. Patrick’s Day; spring break ends

• March 22: Ramadan begins

• March 23: SAC Spring Picnic; ODEI Disabilities

Month presentation

• March 27:

2SLGBTQIA+ Pride Week begins; SAC Pride Trivia

• March 28: ODEI

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women panel; International Culture Fair; SAC Plants for Pride and Rock Painting

• March 29: Pride

Movie Night

• March 30: SAC

Drag Bingo

• March 31: Trans Day of Visibility

Jamison Ko Life Editor jtko@my.okcu.edu

OCU hosted events all month long to encourage and celebrate the beauty that is Black culture. Events spanned from one-night events to all-month-long activities and were put on by a variety of organizations.

Housing and Residence Life partnered with the Student Government Association to host a steps challenge for the month of February.

The goal was for the OCU community to complete 108,000 steps, the equivalent of the 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, over the month of February. All who showed proof of completion were entered into a drawing for a prize.

The Black Student Association also celebrated through weekly movie nights. Every Sunday, BSA showed a film with relevance to the Black community.

In a partnership with the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, BSA hosted “Reflections on the OKC Sit-In Movement,” a panel featuring guests Joyce Henderson, Marilyn Luper Hildreth, and Joyce Jackson.

They also screened “Children of the Civil Rights,” a documentary which tells the story of the young people who helped desegregate nearly every restaurant in Oklahoma City.

The DEI office also featured staff and faculty luminaries on their social media throughout the month, while the cafeteria used its TV screens to highlight important black cultural figures and OCU dining staff.

The final event of Black History Month was the Kickback, held in the Great Hall.

This event invited students and staff for community building and a good time, all while styling in their cleanest kicks.