Photos by Naomy Poot Ibarra ’25.
Left: The Five College West African Music Ensemble, pictured above, performed works titled “Gahu” and “Agbekor” at this year’s Black History Month Gala. Right: President Tatum joined the APAU Black History Month Coordinator Sarah Bell ’25 in a discussion.
By Naomy Poot Ibarra ‘25
Staff Writer
On Sunday, Feb. 26, Mount Holyoke College’s Association of Pan-African Unity sponsored the annual Black History Month Gala at Chapin Auditorium with dinner, performances and a conversation with Interim President Beverly Daniel Tatum. This event was the culmination of the many events that took place as part of the College’s Black History Month programming, with each week highlighting the theme “_____ and Beauty.” APAU, Division of Student Life, Office of Community and Belonging, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and several other Mount Holyoke departments and groups worked together to plan the series of activities. This month's themes were “History and Beauty,” “Intersectionality and Beauty,” “Black Voices and Beauty” and “Blackness and Beauty.”
A performance by the Five College West African Music Ensemble started the evening with two dance drumming works, “Gahu” and “Agbekor.” Gahu is a “recreational piece originally from Nigeria,” taught according to the methods introduced by Nani Agbeli, a Ghanaian drummer, dancer and ensemble leader who has performed and instructed at Tufts and Harvard universities. Agbekor is a kind of music that was historically performed as a war dance but is now mostly utilized for cultural presentations.
After the performance, there was a brief interlude during which the attendees dined on soul food. The dishes served featured macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, collard greens and cornbread. Soon after, Tatum was joined in dialogue by Sarah Bell ’25, APAU’s Five College Representative and the organization’s Black History Month Coordinator.
Tatum discussed how she originally began her career in academia and ultimately ended up at Mount Holyoke. She described how the Mount Holyoke psychology department, where she served as the department chair after eight years, was dominated by white academics and how the College sought to diversify the faculty. She emphasized how she was the perfect candidate for the position of associate professor, as it aligned with her area of study, which was focused on psychology and education with a focus on “minority issues related to mental health.”
During “[Tatum’s] existence in academia as a Black woman, …in every part of her journey, it was kind of like there was a spot missing that she was filling … It’s not only inspiring as a Black woman in academia because you look around at your professors and you get discouraged, because it’s white men this and white men that, but then to know her journey, it’s like theres always a need for us as women of color in academia I think is what she was showing me,” Ruth Poku ’25, a double major in politics and economics, said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News. “I know the position that I will have will be waiting for me in the same way her positions were waiting for her.”
Emphasizing the lack of representation of Black women within higher education, yet also acknowledging the growing opportunities, Poku added, “We also have to acknowledge that these opportunities are not just falling out of the sky, of course, these places are being created because of women like her and [President-Elect Holley]. More spaces are being created because they are paving the way for us.”
Finally, to wrap up the discussion, Bell questioned Tatum about her time as the president of Spelman College, a historically Black liberal arts college for women, and how her time at Mount Holyoke had influenced her leadership style there. All in all, her time at Mount Holyoke prior to becoming Interim President had a lasting impact on her time at Spelman College.
Tatum emphasized that she experienced several career-related events throughout her tenure at Mount Holyoke, such as when Oprah Winfrey featured a segment on Tatum’s book “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race.” Tatum highlighted how this feature occurred when she was still at Mount Holyoke, and that students were invited to watch, which Tatum described as a time of great excitement.
Editors note: Sarah Bell is a staff writer for the Global section of the Mount Holyoke News.