Black History Month at Colorado State University over the years has continued to be present on campus, developing and preserving multiple events that celebrate Black history and bring about unique, interwoven recognitions of cultural identity. Organizations such as the Black/African American Cultural Center have allowed students and faculty to be cultivators of uplifting celebration.
Black History Month has reached its 100th year of celebration. John Miller IV has been the director of B/AACC for a little over a year, and upon taking the role, he said he values staying connected to other Cultural Resource Center directors, assistant directors and additional staff to honor the past while also allowing CSU students and faculty to imprint their own history through unique celebrations.
“Black History Month has taken on different forms over the years,” Miller IV said. “This year, we’re just (finding) different kinds of opportunities for folks to engage in.”
Ray Black is an associate professor of African American studies and has led lectures during Black History Month that delve deeper into the history of African Americans and how it still holds relevance today.
“For the same reason they come together on campus to get educated, it is important to know information about how we exist today, how we’ve existed in the past, and how we should exist in the future,” Black said.
Jada Holliday is the assistant director of B/AACC and said she has found value in working together to cultivate the programming for Black History Month, building off what the center has done over the years.
“What does it look like to be both cultivators and celebrators?” Holliday said. “Sometimes we can be so caught up in the logistics of programming, we miss the opportunity to realize we are making history as we celebrate it.”
Some of the core events the B/AACC organized include screening short films in collaboration with the ACT Human Rights Film Festival, working with Ram’s Horn Dining Center to serve culturally significant food and setting up the Black History Month Kick-Off.
“We are honoring through time, and we stand on the shoulders of giants; there are people standing on our shoulders that we don’t even know yet.” –John Miller IV, Black/African American Cultural Center director
Miller IV said B/AACC focuses on conserving the beauty and diversity of Black history while expanding the purpose for each event.
“It’s about helping us all expand our knowledge and to build that foundation so we can see how interconnected we are,” Miller IV said. “Black history is something that happened in the past but something that is with us today and something that will be with us in the future.”
Holliday said the kick-off has taken different forms based on the progression of the student leadership team. She said she enjoys how students have been committed to their roles every year, looking into past iterations and incorporating their own perspectives.
“(Changes) really come from the expansion and cultivation of our student leadership team,” Holliday said. “A lot of our registered student organizations take on not just the question of what does Black history mean to the community and what does it mean to this organization that we are part of.”
Holliday said she appreciates how events such as Samba Sensations with El Centro and RamEvents have developed the beauty of all the students who were present in the space. She recognized how Black History Month has grown to be a time that is intentionally engaging, curious and celebratory.
“It was such a beautiful depiction of the population on our campus in such a wonderful time of expression through dance and laughter and movement,” Holliday said.
Miller IV emphasized how celebrating and recognizing Black history extends beyond the month of February.
“There’s a proverb that I love to quote that says: ‘I pointed to you the moon and the stars, and yet you only saw the tip of my finger,'” Miller IV said. “We are honoring through time, and we stand on the shoulders of giants; there are people standing on our shoulders that we don’t even know yet. So let’s learn the history now. ”
Reach Sananda Chandy at life@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
