The movie series, featuring “Raisin in the Sun,” “Amistad” and “The Color Purple,” rotated a film every week and showed them from Monday to Wednesday, with a special showing of “Amistad” last Friday. Not only did these film screenings educate the campus about black issues, but they also provided students with a study break opportunity.
The timeline, which was a new BSU idea this year, focused on the positive achievements of the people of the African Diaspora, said BSU alumni liaison Larissa Davis ’13.
“We’re just trying to bring to light the contributions of people of color, Africans, Caribbeans, etc. [and] what they’ve brought to the U.S. and this world,” said Davis. “It’s very important that we don’t lose sight of that. We didn’t highlight slavery in our timeline, but events that brought black people up and not down. We highlighted some of the rebellions, inventions, groundbreaking people like Charles Drew, Nat Turner, all these people who made a positive difference. We didn’t necessarily highlight the despair and despondency that was prevalent.”
Moreover, BSU is also hosting a final celebration this Sunday on the last day of Black History Month with singers, poets and a speech by Black Studies Chair Jeffrey Ferguson.
Even though BSU celebrates Black History Month every year, this year’s events have been a part of BSU’s efforts to revamp their activities and their image on campus. They have already begun planning their events for next year’s celebration.
“[We’ve been thinking of] ideas that are coming up that are fresh and new: movies we can play, events that we can host, people we can bring on campus to speak,” said Davies. “We’re thinking about playing different types of movies. This semester we’re trying to bring out BSU in a different light as an active organization [and] engaging in the community.”