Wellesley Celebrates Black History Month with Theme “Black Migration: New Destinations, New Realities”
Wellesley is celebrating Black History Month this February with film screenings, lectures, and a tour of the African art exhibit at the Davis Museum. Presented by Harambee House, the theme of this year’s celebration is “Black Migration: New Destinations, New Realities.”
The focus will be “the relocation of people of African descent from Africa and the Caribbean to the United States and their movement within the United States,” said Tracey Cameron, assistant dean of intercultural education, director of Harambee House, and advisor to students of African descent.
Highlights will include a keynote address by Vanessa K. Valdés director of the Black Studies Program at the City College of New York-CUNY. Valdés is the author of Diasporic Blackness, about the life and times of Harlem Renaissance historian, writer, and activist Arturo Alfonso Schomburg. Born in Puerto Rico, Schomburg migrated to New York City in 1891, where he became a writer, activist, and collector.
Black History Month events on campus:
February 6, 6 p.m.
The Cypher: Surviving R. Kelly: Beyond the Music
Harambee House
February 7, 5 p.m.
An evening with author Samuel Delany
Newhouse Center lounge
Sponsor: Newhouse Center for the Humanities
February 8, 6 p.m.
Film screening: Kiki
Harambee House
February 12, 6 p.m.
Alumnae Speaker Series: In Conversation with Malika Jeffries-EL’96
Harambee House
Co-sponsor: Wellesley Alumnae of African Descent
February 17–23
Africa Week Events
Sponsor: Wellesley African Students Association
February 19, 6 p.m.
Keynote address with Vanessa K. Valdés: San Mateo de Cangrejos, and Charlotte Amalie, Harlem, Nashville, and Brooklyn: the Migrations of Alfonso Schomburg
Co-sponsor: Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
February 20, 12:45 p.m.
Public Tour: Art of Africa and the African Diaspora at Wellesley,
Led by Assistant Curator Amanda Gilvin
The Davis Museum
February 23, 5 p.m.
Women for Caribbean Development (WCD) Expo: Rhythms of the Caribbean
Tishman Commons
February 25, 6 p.m.
African American Read-In: Becoming by Michelle Obama
Harambee House
February 26, 1:30 p.m.
Wellesley’s Black History
Wellesley College Archives Exhibit
(fourth floor, Clapp Library)
Sponsor: Ethos
February 26, 5 p.m.
Film screening: Blasian Narratives, followed by performer Q&A
PNE-239
Sponsors: Committee of Lectures and Cultural Events, the Advisor to Students of Asian Descent, and the Pan-Asian Council
February 27, 7 p.m.
Film screening: Talking Black in America
Collins Cinema
Sponsor: Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Program
February 28, 4 p.m.
Film screening: Black N Black, with filmmaker Zadi Zokou
Library Lecture Room
Sponsor: Department of Africana Studies
Photo: Students at the dedications and groundbreaking of Harambee House,1969
