The University of Mississippi’s annual Black History Month celebration begins with a kick-off event at 4 p.m., today at Fulton Chapel.
The event features Grisham Writer-in-Residence Kiese Laymon as the keynote speaker and includes remarks from Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter and a presentation of the “Lift Every Voice” awards by Donald Cole, assistant provost and assistant to the chancellor for multicultural affairs.
“The Black History Month Committee has worked diligently to put together an excellent series of programs for this year,” Cole said.
Both students and faculty put together the lineup for the rest of the month across multiple campus departments, according to Shawnboda Mead, director of the Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement.
The executive board of Men of Excellence Jeremy Coleman, Justavian Tilman, Ralpheal Patton and Kweisi Fountain attend a meeting Sunday. MOX is a community service organization whose purpose is to help improve the minority male image on campus. (Photo by: Ariel Cobbert)
“We essentially put a callout to the campus saying and inviting people to submit programs for the campus live calendar,” Meade said. “So, we have a really nice comprehensive offering of programs this month, even more than we had last year.”
George Worlasi Kwasi Dor, professor of music and McDonnell-Barksdale Chair of Ethnomusicology, said when he first came to Ole Miss in 2001, he realized the music department was not playing a large role in the celebration of Black History Month, so he began black history concerts. Dor is also the founding director of Ole Miss African Drum and Dance Ensemble.
“Annually, I coordinate, I will identify the groups or individuals within the University,” Dor said. “And if I have sufficient funds I will bring performances from outside to come and join us, so it has been a huge event on campus.”
Dor said he felt, culturally, black history has been perceived as only African-American history instead of the history of all black peoples.
“This is a philosophical question. Of course Black History Month belongs to African-Americans, of course we should know their history, the racism behind it,” Dor said. “But given my position as an African, as a black and an Africanus, I initiated these Black History Month concerts.”
The theme for Dor’s concert each year is “Love shapes diversity.”
“We are talking about multiculturalism,” Dor said. “It’s not just acknowledging that we have different cultures, but it is to the extent we accept them and benefit from the richness of the multiple cultures we have on campus.”
The month’s activities include film screenings, the Black Student Union’s Third Annual Black History Month Gala, a Sankofa African-American Museum on Wheels and a Sister2Sister leadership retreat, which will address issues that impact African-American women.
“It just reminds everyone that we have to be inclusive,” Telisha Dionne Bailey, professor of history and African-American studies said. “As a historian, often, history is written from certain perspectives. I think what happens with Black History Month is for us to appreciate a culture, a group, but to also say, ‘We are bringing in everyone.’ We are celebrating people, but that it is inclusive of everyone.”
