Sarah Bell '25, Qiana Pierre '25, Sydney Williams '23 and Wil Abam-DePass '23 help with event. Photo courtesy of Annmarie Murdzia.
By Tara Monastesse ’25 and Bryn Healy ’24
News Editor | Staff Writer
On the evening of Friday, Feb. 2, the opening ceremony for Mount Holyoke’s observation of Black History Month was held in Blanchard Hall’s Great Room. After a land acknowledgement by Associate Dean of Students, Community and Belonging Latrina Denson, student representatives from various Black student organizations on campus welcomed attendees to the ceremony. Gathered around confetti-strewn tables lit with flickering candles, attendees listened to presentations on Black culture and history in the United States, as well as a summary of events that will be hosted by the College and Black student organizations throughout February.
Following introductions, attendees stood for a recorded performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black national anthem. The song, originally adapted from the 1900 poem of the same name by former NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson, was described as a “rallying cry during the Civil Rights movement” by the NAACP.
The theme for Black History Month at Mount Holyoke this year is “_____ and Beauty,” with the blank being filled in with a new word for each week of programming: History and Beauty, Intersectionality and Beauty, Black Voices and Beauty and Blackness and Beauty. The presenters explained that the theme gets its name from the phrase “Black is beautiful,” popularized in the 1960s and 70s as an activist slogan. The catalyst for the Black is Beautiful movement was Kwame Brathwaite’s fashion show in 1962. The show highlighted Grandassa Models who refused to follow Western beauty standards and were followers of Marcus Garvey’s African Nationalist Pioneer Movement.
“We were able to come up with something that exemplified how people may define themselves, specifically Black individuals, [and] what beauty means to them, and what Black beauty means to them,” Wil Abam-DePass ’23, co-chair of the Association of Pan-African Unity, said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News. “Which is why we left the first part of the line open, because there’s so many different ways. And beauty doesn’t just mean appearance — it can also mean there’s beauty in education, there’s beauty in acceptance, there’s beauty in diversity, there’s beauty in justice — different things.”
The students then gave a brief presentation on the history of Black History Month, describing how it began as a week designated by historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History in 1926 to be celebrated during the second week of February. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Woodson and the ASALH chose February as it was the birth month of Fredrick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Black students in the 1960s began to observe Black History Month on their college campuses, a practice which escalated to national prominence upon being officially recognized by President Gerald Ford in 1976.
Presenters also discussed the history of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, a group of African American fraternities and sororities commonly referred to as the Divine Nine. According to their website, the National Pan-Hellenic Council was founded at Howard University, a Historically Black University, in 1930 by “Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.” The current nine members of the council describe their core goals as community action and awareness.
Toni-Ann Williams ’23, president of the Pi Iota chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc, described her relationship to the group, saying, “[it] holds a lot of weight in my life … it’s a dream come true.” Williams also announced Pi Iota’s upcoming “Galentines” day event to be hosted on Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. at University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Malcolm X Cultural Center, an event described by the Pi Iota Instagram as “a love-centered event filled with discussions, vision board making and light refreshments.”
A list of events planned to celebrate Black History Month at Mount Holyoke throughout February was presented, which includes over a dozen events, features film screenings, author readings, educational panels and more. Some of these events include a screening and discussion of the 2015 documentary “Too Black to be French?” on Feb. 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the Unity Center, and a panel entitled “A Journey of Poetry, Love and Authenticity with Poet Lynette Johnson” to be held on Feb. 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the Betty Shabazz Community Room. A four-part weekly series watching and discussing the docuseries “Hair Tales” will happen in the Betty Shabazz Cultural Center every Monday this month. Students who sign up for “Hair Tales” discussions are eligible for $50 off with an MHC student stylist. The Anthropology, English and Africana Studies Departments and the Nexus in Museums, Archives and Public History are co-sponsoring a virtual reading with author André Le Mont Wilson on Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m.
The opening ceremony concluded with a reception, where speakers and attendees socialized and enjoyed refreshments. The College’s programming for Black History Month will conclude with a Black History Gala on Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. in Chapin Auditorium, as well as a closing ceremony on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in Gamble Auditorium.
Editor’s note: Sarah Bell ’25, present in the photo, is a member of Mount Holyoke News.