Goucher Celebrates Black History Month 2010

February 01, 2010 |

Goucher College is celebrating Black History Month with a series of events and performances designed to honor African American achievement.

All events are free and open to the public.

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Monday, February 1
10 a.m. to 2p.m., Student Health and Counseling Center
Trained counselors from the Baltimore County Health Department will provide free anonymous HIV/AIDS testing to students, faculty, and staff. The tests involve cheek swabs, and results will be available that day. No appointments are necessary.

Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute and Reception
Thursday, February 4
6 p.m., Heubeck A
Kimberley Gordy ’06, assistant director of admissions and coordinator of multicultural recruitment, will give a talk titled “My Piece of the Dream.” Participants are invited to write down their dreams and share them during the reception.

Open Mic Night
Saturday, February 13
10 p.m., Gopher Hole
Come celebrate the African American legacy of spoken word and performance art with an open mic night hosted by Axiom and featuring Goucher’s house band Funk Friday. Interested performers should contact Melissa Smith at melissa.smith@goucher.edu.

African American Film Festival
Each of the following free films will be screened at 7:30 p.m. in Athenaeum Classroom 422:

Have You Heard From Johannesburg?
Monday, February 15 
Part of a six-part, anti-apartheid series produced and directed by Connie Field, this documentary shows how a nationwide campaign of civil disobedience, campus protest, and eventual legislative action was able to reverse American foreign policy toward South Africa during Ronald Regan’s administration.

Tulia, Texas
Tuesday, February 16 
This film examines a landmark civil rights case that shined a light on the deep-rooted assumptions about race that underlie the war on drugs. The case began in 1999 in a small Texas farming town where drug-related charges made by a corrupt undercover cop led to the arrest of 46 people – nearly all of them African American.

Black Is . . . Black Ain’t
Thursday, February 18
In his final project before losing his battle with AIDS, director Marlon Riggs brings together personal stories, interviews, music, history, and performance to challenge the traditional definition of black identity in America and to encourage African Americans to celebrate diversity within their communities.

Negro Spiritual Night
Sunday, February 28
7 p.m., Haebler Memorial Chapel
Learn about Negro spirituals, religious songs created by African slaves in America, and their role in U.S. history.

Goucher’s Black History Month programming is sponsored by the offices of Community Living and Multicultural Affairs, International Studies, the President, Religious and Spiritual Life, Student Engagement, the Vice President and Dean of Students; and by Can’t Stop/ Won’t Stop, the Goucher Live Music House, the Student Government Association, and Umoja: The Black Student Union.