Photo courtesy of Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections
2020 marks the 51st anniversary of the Betty Shabazz House, founded after sit-ins by Black students on campus demanding a Black student center. Above: students outside the first Black Culture Center on campus.
BY KATIE GOSS ’23
Since 1976, Black History Month — celebrated in the month of February in the United States — has been held to recognize the achievements of Black Americans and members of the African diaspora.
According to Mount Holyoke’s website, Black History Month is celebrated on campus “through programs that honor African and Black American ancestry, recognizing the present and reflecting on the future.” Events are held on campus throughout the month, organized by the Association of Pan-African Unity (APAU) and further sponsored by the Division of Student Life and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
“Basically what we do is organize every event through February, from speakers to come in, talks, panels and [other] major events,” said Whitney Stephenson ’22, the Black History Month representative on the APAU board. For Stephenson, it’s about “organizing a month that’s reflective of the community, but also getting people engaged of why we are happy it’s Black History Month.”
Every year a specific theme is chosen by the College to focus on for the month. This year’s was “The Future is Black.” According to the College’s website, the theme aims to “shine light on a future that consists of innovators, world changers and dream chasers from the African diaspora.”
“We started brainstorming as soon as last summer how Black History Month is going to look on Mount Holyoke’s campus,” Stephenson said. “‘The Future is Black’ is the theme of this year’s Black History Month, and that motivated [us to think] about Black innovators, entrepreneurs, people who are being known but also getting a seat at the table,” said Stephenson.
Throughout the month, the College hosted events such as a weekly movie series dedicated to screening films produced and directed by individuals from the African diaspora.
Another event held was the Black Arts Movement (BAM) art exhibit. Black artists from the Five College Consortium were encouraged to display their artwork in the Student Art Gallery in the Blanchard Campus Center and some participants were able to auction their work. According to the College’s website, the BAM exhibit was “influenced by the movement sparked in the 1960s-1970s that used activism and art to visually represent Black pride.”
Several talks and lectures were held throughout the month. On Feb. 10, the College held an event called “Service without Saviors: Decolonizing Development Work in West Africa.” It was an interactive teach-in focused on how to go abroad for internships or schoolwork both mindfully and ethically.
Another talk, “Black and Jewish Dialogue: Exploring the Complexity of Black-Jewish Identity,” focused on the intersectionality of the black and Jewish communities, how they are represented as a whole in the media and what they can do to build the community further. The event, which was held on Feb. 12, included a screening of actor and comedian Tiffany Haddish’s “Black Mitzvah,” followed by a discussion of the film.
On Feb. 24, a talk titled “Women in STEM” took place to point out the successes and obstacles of women of color working in fields they are not typically represented in. The event featured women working in those fields, who spoke about their personal experiences.
Originally, the last event to take place on campus for Black History Month was going to be a fashion show entitled “Fusion.” However, a new event took place instead, “a kind of open mic night,” as Stephenson explained. The event, held in the sunroom in North Rockefeller Hall, invited students to share their artistic talents through singing and dancing.
“[The event] is allowing Mount Holyoke’s campus to see that this is the talent we bring on campus,” Stephenson said.
Various displays around campus have also been erected to call attention to the month’s significance. A book display in the Williston Library highlighted black history works.
In Dwight Hall, archival papers and pictures were displayed to show the activism that went on at Mount Holyoke in the 1960s. A description of the material presented in the display case read, “It is important to note the limited amounts of material from the archives on the Civil Rights Movement.”
The placard continued, “Mount Holyoke is a primarily white institution and its student population has often reflected that, including in the 1960s. Many white students at Mount Holyoke did not participate in civil rights activism for various reasons from apathy and racist belief.”
In the case was a transcript of Tiffany McClain’s ’01 oral history project in which she interviewed Barbara Smith ’69 on her experience at Mount Holyoke as a Black student in the 1960s. Also included in the case was a seminar schedule from the Civil Rights Conference at Mount Holyoke in 1965, organized by students from Mount Holyoke, Amherst, Smith and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In response to this conference, a letter from then-president of the College, Richard Glenn Gettell, was sent out to defend the conference, which had caused controversy due to some of the speakers. This letter was also displayed.
“Oftentimes when planning Black History Month, it can be seen as, ‘oh it’s just a Black event,’ or ‘Black History Month is solidarity with people from the African diaspora,’” Stephenson said. “However, it’s more of a come-in-and-see what we bring, or ‘see the joy that we get [out of these events].’”
“As we are celebrating ourselves and our history, we would also like everyone else to see the love that we have, and that’s the community that I want for Mount Holyoke College,” Stephenson said.