Celebrating Black History
Black History Month at Oberlin is a mechanism by which many of our community members have become enlightened by the history, politics, and economics of the African diaspora. Over the years, the celebration has extended into the arts, literature, and performance aesthetics that make the Oberlin experience much more enriching than what occurs at many other colleges and universities.
Oberlin students, the Africana studies department, Afrikan Heritage House, and the Multicultural Resource Center have worked together for years to make this celebration a meaningful program. Together they seek to stimulate dialogue and engage the Oberlin community through academic, cultural, and social events that celebrate the history, legacy, and future of the African diaspora.
Black History Month programs take place from February 1 to 28 at select venues throughout the Oberlin College campus and community.
Among the highlights:
Oberlin Theater Production: Dessa Rose
Young slave Dessa Rose and white, well-born Ruth forge an unlikely alliance. It ultimately leads to friendship and admiration as they struggle to overcome boundaries of race and gender in pre-civil war America. Joyous, harrowing, and soul-stirring, their story explores emotions unmatched by most other musicals. Oberlin Associate Professor of Theater and Africana studies Caroline Jackson-Smith directs.
Black Ballot Power: A Conversation on the 1965 Voting Rights Act
Listen and later join the conversation about the 1965 Voting Rights Actwith guest panelists Charles McKinney of Rhodes College and Pablo Mitchell of Oberlin College. Pam Brooks of Oberlin College will serve as moderator.
Dear White People: Film Screening and Dialogue
Oberlin's historic Apollo Theater will offer a free screening of the satirical drama Dear White People. Written and directed by Justin Simien, the film chronicles the lives of four students of color at an Ivy League college. Discussion to follow screening.
Inside Buffalo: The Untold Story of the Buffalo Soldiers
Inside Buffalo, a documentary by Italian-Ghanaian activist-producer-writer-director Fred Kudjo Kuwornu, aspires to personalize the experience of World War II and the civil rights movement through the lives and experiences of the segregated combat unit known as the Buffalo Soldiers. The little-known 92nd Infantry of African American soldiers fought valiantly in Europe.
Other Black History Month programs include plays, lectures, art exhibits, short films, and community discussions.