Black History Month

"Black History Month is widely celebrated in American popular culture during the month of February. The purpose of the month-long event is to continually recognize the achievements of African American people throughout the history of the United States. The widespread attention given to black history and culture that emerged after the Black Arts Movement of late 1960s and 1970s spurred all Americans to recognize the important role African Americans played in the development of the U.S. In 1976, President Gerald Ford became the first president to officially observe Black History Month. Ford did so as part of that year's bicentennial celebrations. Since that time, every subsequent U.S. president has decreed February as Black History Month."

2025 Theme: African Americans and Labor

"The 2025 Black History Month theme, African Americans and Labor, focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people. Indeed, work is at the very center of much of Black history and culture. Be it the traditional agricultural labor of enslaved Africans that fed Low Country colonies, debates among Black educators on the importance of vocational training, self-help strategies and entrepreneurship in Black communities, or organized labor’s role in fighting both economic and social injustice, Black people’s work has been transformational throughout the U.S., Africa, and the Diaspora. The 2025 Black History Month theme, 'African Americans and Labor,' sets out to highlight and celebrate the potent impact of this work.

"Considering Black people’s work through the widest perspectives provides versatile and insightful platforms for examining Black life and culture through time and space. In this instance, the notion of work constitutes compensated labor in factories, the military, government agencies, office buildings, public service, and private homes. But it also includes the community building of social justice activists, voluntary workers serving others, and institution building in churches, community groups, and social clubs and organizations. In each of these instances, the work Black people do and have done have been instrumental in shaping the lives, cultures, and histories of Black people and the societies in which they live. Understanding Black labor and its impact in all these multivariate settings is integral to understanding Black people and their histories, lives, and cultures."

Association for the Study of African American Life and History. (n.d.). Black history themes. https://asalh.org/black-history-themes/

2025 Events at Buffalo State

Masterclass on Spirituals with Dr. Alexis Davis Hazell from the University of Alabama and BUS’s Music Department students and faculty

Tuesday, Feb. 6

12:15-1:30pm

Rockwell Hall, Room 106

Is Radical Thought Unrealistic?

Monday, Feb. 10

5:30-6:30pm

Bacon 205

Discussion led by Africana Studies Majors
 

Blacks and Policing: Know Your Rights!

Tuesday, Feb. 11

12:15-1:30pm (Bengal Pause)

Bulger 422

Feat. Attorney John Elmore

Black Alumni Speak to Today's Students

Wednesday, Feb. 12

5-6:30pm

Union Assembly Hall

Feat. Doc Thomas, Woody Brandy, and Marsha Jackson

Should Africana Studies be an Activist Program?

Thursday, Feb. 13

12:15-1:30pm (Bengal Pause)

Bulger 422

Feat. Professors Naila Catilo, John Torrey, Holly Quicksey, Marcus Watson, Barish Ali, Erin Habes, and Shantell Reid
 

Beyond Boundaries Film Screening and Panel Discussion: Daughters

Thursday, Feb. 20

7pm

Burchfield Penney Art Center’s Tower Auditorium

Directors: Angela Patton, Natalie Rae

Four girls prepare to reunite with their fathers through a special dance at a DC jail in this moving documentary about the healing power of love.

BA Forum with Nicole Mitchell, an American Opera Singer from the MET Opera, a BSU alumna from Music Department

Thursday, Feb. 27

12:15-1:30pm

Rockwell Hall, Room 106

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