THE HARVARD CRIMSON THE UNIVERSITY DAILY, EST. 1873
ARTS
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So You Want to Listen To Afrobeats? Here’s Where to Start
Harvard Men’s Basketball Dominates Cornell, Columbia
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| VOLUME CL, NO. 5 | CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2023
Black History Month at Harvard CELEBRATION AND COMMEMORATION. Black History Month has arrived, and Harvard students, faculty, and affiliates are gathering to celebrate, memorialize, and learn about the history of Black people at Harvard. This special issue profiles Harvard Square’s Black business owners, visits Harvard house and club events, and remembers Harvard’s first black lacrosse athlete. SEE PAGE 5 JULIAN J. GIORDANO—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER SAMI TURNER—CRIMSON DESIGNER
Clubs and Houses Stage Events for Mayor Wu Names Members of Black History Month Celebration City Reparations Task Force BY MADELEINE A. HUNG JOYCE E. KIM ELLA L. JONES AND JOHN N. PEÑA CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Throughout February, Harvard students are commemorating Black History Month with celebrations put on by undergraduate houses and affinity groups. Black History Month annually recognizes the accomplishments of Black Americans and their role in United States history. The celebration was initiated by historian Carter G. Woodson, who completed his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1912, and has been recognized by every U.S. president since 1976. Pforzheimer House resident Elyse G. Martin-Smith ’25 said her house “really stepped up” for the month. Martin-Smith participated in a Black women’s selfcare night and an African diaspora listening party organized by the House’s race relations tutors. Martin-Smith, a member of the Harvard Black Students Association, said she appreciated the opportunity to discuss Black identity with her peers in a residential space without having to plan the events. “I do a lot of planning myself, and to have that burden taken off
me for just a minute — and having tutors or deans step up and take that event planning into their own hands — meant a lot,” she said. The celebrations continued at other houses. At Quincy House, residents visited Frugal Bookstore, a Black-owned bookstore, to purchase books for the House’s Junior Common Room. The house also hosted a walking tour of the Black Heritage Trail, which ends at the Museum of African American History in Boston. Quincy resident B. Ashton Alexander ’23 attended a screening of the documentary “Soul Food Junkies,” catered by Black-owned soul food restaurant Coast Cafe. “It was an opportunity for members of the house to come together as a collective and as a community, and anytime you can do that over good food, it just seems like a win-win,” he said. All house dining halls also commemorated Black History Month on Thursday with menus inspired by influential Black chefs, according to Harvard University Dining Services spokesperson Crista Martin. Winthrop House also offered an “African Heritage Diet” cooking class last Friday, Martin added. Outside of the houses, campus
affinity groups for Black students held events to celebrate. On Saturday, BSA hosted their sixth annual Black Legacy Ball, which celebrated “Black Culture and the achievements of Black people at the College and beyond,” according to the group’s website. Michael O. Omole ’24, BSA vice president, took the lead in planning the event, which he described as “a celebration of Black Harvard.” The ball honors two faculty members and a high school student each year. This year’s honorees were Cambridge Rindge and Latin School senior and incoming Harvard student Helen Hailemariam; Harvard Gullah language instructor Sunn m’Cheaux; and Theater, Dance, and Media lecturer Shamell Bell — an original member of the Black Lives Matter movement. BSA’s other upcoming events include a Diversity Career Expo, the Black Boston Bash — a party with other Boston-area universities — and a Black History Month mixer. BSA President Rothsaida Sylvaince ’24 said Black History Month is a time to “celebrate both the history and the future”
SEE ‘CLUBS’ PAGE 5
BY DYLAN H. PHAN AND JACK R. TRAPANICK CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07 announced the 10 members of the newly-formed Reparations Task Force to “study the lasting impacts of slavery in Boston,” according to a Feb. 7 press release. In February 2022, Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia proposed the establishment of a commission to study reparations for Boston’s Black residents, which was unanimously approved by the Boston City Council ten months later. The ordinance cites the city’s role in the African slave trade and its discriminatory policies following abolition, which range from segregated public housing to racist “red-lining” zoning practices. The task force will be chaired by Joseph D. Feaster Jr., former president of the Boston branch of the NAACP. “I’m glad to see that the Boston City Council took the initiative to address the issue,” Feaster said in an interview. “I’m honored and humbled to have been asked to serve on a reparation task force and in fact chair it, and so I understand my mission, and I plan
to execute.” The task force is preparing to begin the first phase of its work, which will focus on researching the city’s role in the African slave trade and ties to the institution of slavery, per the ordinance. Feaster said the task force’s research would need to decide the scope and time frame at which it will examine reparations in Boston. “Do you look at slavery as it was applied from the moment that folks were taken from the shores of Africa and arrived here in Virginia?” Feaster asked. “Do you look at it from the standpoint of persons who came to Massachusetts, and more specifically to Boston as slaves or freedmen, and were still enslaved in some way?” In the second phase of the task force’s work, set to begin this summer, members plan to review the city’s previous efforts to address the “continued impacts of enslavement,” according to the ordinance. Linda J. Bilmes ’80, a senior lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School, said in an interview that the concept of reparations has ample precedent in the United States. “Reparations are very commonplace for many, many differ-
ent types of harms, and the U.S. government pays what we call the reparatory compensation every day,” Bilmes said. Bilmes added, however, that the U.S. “rarely has done more than providing financial compensation,” referencing payments of up to $100,000 to the victims of mid-20th century nuclear weapons tests, which exposed tens of thousands of people to dangerous radiation. Feaster said one difficulty for the task force will be deciding the most appropriate method of reparations for slavery, given the wide variety of perspectives among advocates for reparations. “If you speak to 10 people, you’re gonna get 10 different answers,” Feaster said. “Some people want, ‘Give me the money, I should be paid,’ and there are others that say, ‘Put it into housing. Put it into health issues.’” The task force will provide their answer to that question in a final report proposing recommendations for “truth, reconciliation, and reparations” for Boston in June 2024, concluding the final phase of the initiative. The move brings Boston into a wider national movement for local reparations, following the
SEE ‘WU’ PAGE 5
BLACK HEALTH
SQUARE BIZ
GAASA PETITION
Panelists Discuss Decolonizing Black Health
Black Business Owners in Harvard Square
Petition to Dename Winthrop House
PAGE 4. This weekend, Harvard affiliates, students, and scholars gathered for the sixth annual Black Health Matters conference to discuss the decolonization of Black health.
PAGE 5. The Crimson interviewed Harvard Square Black business owners, including the owners of Le Macaron, Oggi Gourmet, and Grolier Poetry Book Shop. The owners have found their “niche” and seek to “break barriers.”
PAGE 5. More than 200 Harvard affiliates have signed a petition calling to dename Winthrop House, which is named for enslavers. This comes nearly a year after the University’s report detailing Harvard’s ties to slavery.