LBHBCC honors Black history month through ‘strength in numbers’

This year the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center’s theme for the year is “Strength in Numbers,” as they continue to create a safe space for students and hope to do events and projects that bring unity and cultures together.

“Even though it’s just a month, I like to think that it’s year round,” fourth year and Black Cultural Center Community Relations

Representative Gabi Prescott said. “One month doesn’t highlight all the history and doesn’t highlight all the excellence that happens throughout the year.”

Since 1976, every American president has officially designated February as Black History Month, making this the 47th Black History Month in the United States.

Fifth year Psychology major and BCC Community Relations Representative Isaac Savage describes what Black History Month means to him – reflecting the start of the struggles and the journey for African Americans and what those in the past have done to get where we are today, as well as how we can apply what has been learned to today’s world.

The first time Black History was recognized and commemorated was in 1926 when the Association for the Study of African American Life and History sponsored a national Black History week, choosing the second week of February to align with Abraham Lincoln’s and Frederick Douglass’s birthdays.

According to History.com Editors in their article “Black History Month,” by the late 1960s, thanks to the civil rights movement, “a growing awareness of Black identity” allowed the week-long commemoration of Black History to the advancement that it is now, Black History Month.

“I did not know about that [Black History Week in 1926],” Savage said. “And that kind of plays into the education system, that they don’t really teach us about that type of stuff. So it’s a lot of hidden history that we don’t know much about. This is the type of stuff we should know about early on.”

Classes offered at OSU such as Black Experience, gives students the opportunity to learn more about Black History and Black excellence that may not be commonly available, in comparison to other parts of history knowledge and information.

“The sad thing isyou have Black History Month, that’s cool. You have that one month, but you have, what, 11 other months where Black excellence can be recognized, and not just celebrity wise,” Savage said. “There’s other Black excellence that could be recognized. It could be a black student getting their degree…becoming a parent…

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that stuff should be recognized not just for one month, not just for a year, it should be recognized for a very very long time.”

The LBHBCC’s yearly theme of “Strength

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Continued from PAGE 1 in Numbers” was collectively decided upon the beginning of the academic year, with aspirations to do events that bring unity and cultures together to create a better space for everyone.

“I feel like going into the month with our theme, it could be a battle but, we’re there for each other, and whether you have allies or not, I feel like we all look at it like – we’re almost like a family,” Prescott said.

“The Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center, to me… it’s like a second home to me, especially on campus,” Savage said.

According to Prescott, students attending predominantly white institutions such as OSU are welcome to be more involved at LBHBCCto join to celebrate Black History Month.

“Just taking those types of classes that talk about the history or stepping foot in the center, coming to events, ‘can I get a tour?’ Prescott said. “Or just educating yourself in general with the internet. I feel like those are some ways and just knowing right from wrong with appropriating.”

“I think it’s very important that even

CORRECTION we, who identify as African American, educate ourselves. But even those, who are not African American or don’t identify as African American, educate themselves as well,” Prescott said. “To know the history and acknowledge it, not just try to hide or stray away from it.”

Other ways to be involved in the community are taking classes such as Black Experience, or classes that talk about the history of African Americans here in America, as well as stopping by the LBHBCC for a tour, or enjoying events on campus!

“We’re stronger together than we are apart,” Prescott said.

In our last print issue we made a mistakingly misquoted within the "Scott Vignos selected as new Chief Diversity Officer" article. The error has since been corrected in the online version of the story. The Barometer deeply apologizes for this error and promises to continue learning from our mistakes.

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Andrew May who moved to Corvallis in the summer of 2013 with his former wife, children and in-laws at the time, sits on a cement wall while speaking about homelessness on Jan. 25. As of Jan. 11, Tina Kotek has signed off on a state of emergency in regards to various counties in Oregon. However, this state of emergency does not currently apply to Benton County.