The Duke community celebrated Black History Month with a sprinkling of events across campus.
And while some were well-attended, others saw little student interest.
The Black Student Alliance hosted “Black Love 2010,” a discussion on the relationship dynamics in the black community, and painted the East Campus bridge in honor of Black History Month.
The dialogue drew more than 100 students, a majority of whom were black. The lack of representation by other races, despite BSA’s efforts to publicize the event to the broader community, is an issue BSA wants to address.
“[I’m] not sure if it’s advertisement, or if people feel that it doesn’t pertain to them,” said BSA Executive Vice President Ayrenne Adams, a senior. “But I would hope it’s not that way, and that people know that black history is America’s history... it’s their history too.”
She added that BSA chose to paint the phrase “celebrate your history” on the East Campus bridge to highlight the connection of all Americans to black history.
The Mary Lou Williams Center encouraged student engagement in black history by screening the film “February 1”—the story of the Greensboro Four who launched the lunch counter sit-ins in the 1960s—and by hosting a conversation with Samuel DuBois Cook. Cook came to the University in 1966 and was the first regular rank black professor at Duke or any other predominantly white school in the South.
Despite Cook’s prominence and the center’s efforts to advertise the event, fewer than 10 students attended the conversation with him, said senior Jesse Huddleston, a student intern at the Mary Lou Williams Center
“If we are to be Duke University, who celebrates diversity and liberal arts education, doesn’t that mean you explore yours and others’ stories?” Huddleston said. “It boils down to, in life there are many things you can do... we over-program at Duke. So I don’t know if the whole Duke community is celebrating, but portions are actively celebrating and seeking to include the whole community... in order to come to terms with this history.”
In the Divinity School, a mixed media mural depicts the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church, a black church in Birmingham, Ala. The bombing killed four little girls. The exhibit, a multi-ethnic collaboration, is part of a series titled “Beauty for Ashes: Truth, Triumph & Tension.”
“[The exhibit includes] focus questions on what racial reconciliation could mean for you,” said Joy Moore, associate dean for black church studies and church relations. “Truth, Triumph & Tension gets folks to not just look and move on, but to look and reflect.”
Visitors to the exhibit were encouraged to write personal responses on red cards at the end of the exhibit, Moore said.
Some responses have described the display as “provocative” and “more than moving,” she noted. The mural, which has been well visited by a diverse mix of students and faculty, set the stage for a Thursday panel discussion on church involvement during the Civil Rights Movement and a showing of Spike Lee’s film “Four Little Girls,” a documentary about the 1963 church bombing.
At the Center for Documentary Studies, the month was marked by the national release of the film “Blood Done Sign My Name.” The film is based on the book of the same name written by Tim Tyson, a senior research scholar at CDS and visiting professor of American Christianity and southern culture at the Divinity School. The story, which takes place in Oxford, N.C., explores the racial tensions and social changes prompted by the acquittal of a white father and son accused of murdering a black man in public. CDS also hosted a talk by photographer William Earle Williams on his black and white photography exhibit “Unsung Heroes: African American Soldiers in the Civil War.”
Other programming by the Center for Multicultural Affairs, the Center for Race Relations and the multicultural selective living group PRISM included workshops and discussions on black culture and community dynamics.
Zoila Airall, assistant vice president for student affairs, said she thinks it is important to continue learning about black history beyond February.
“I would rather have a sustained dialogue that happens all the time,” she said.
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