Black History Month

Every year, the Wesleyan community comes together to celebrate Black History Month in February with a variety of events, initatives, performances, and celebrations. Please come out and support as many of the great events listed below as you are able!

2024 Black History Month Committee: Alise Mackey '24, Shekinah Mba '26, Oluchi Chukwuemeka '25, Tre Studgeon '26, Daelle Coriolan '24, Jen Cheng (Office of Student Involvement), Demetrius Colvin (The Resource Center), Kiara Ruesta-Cayetano (The Resource Center), Anastasia Daniels (Communications and Public Relations)

Malcolm X Film Screening

Event Time and Date: Saturday, January 27th at 8:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)
Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)
Event Description: (attendance open to the public) 1992. USA. Dir: Spike Lee. With Denzel Washington, Angela Basset. 201 min. (Free). Anchored by a powerful performance from Denzel Washington, Spike Lee's biopic of legendary civil rights leader Malcolm X brings his autobiography to life with an epic sweep and a nuanced message.

Hot Cocoa Night / Black History Month Kick-Off

Event Time and Date: Thursday, February 1st from 7:00pm to 9:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Malcolm X House Basement
Event Organizers: Ujamaa Black Student Union
Event Description: (attendance open to Wesleyan students only) Join us for the BHM Kick-Off Event and Hot Cocoa Night featuring a hot chocolate bar, delicious desserts,and good vibes.

This is not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection Film Screening

Event Time and Date: Thursday, February 1st at 8:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)
Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)
Event Description: (attendance open to the public) 2019. Lesotho. Dir: Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese. With Mary Twala Mhlongo. 120 min. (Free). When her village is threatened with forced resettlement due to reservoir construction, an 80-year-old widow finds a new will to live and ignites the spirit of resilience within her community.

Love in Context

Event Time and Date: Thursday, February 8th at 6:00pm
Event Location/Zoom Information: The Resource Center (167 High St)
Event Organizers: The Resource Center
Event Description: (attendance open to Wesleyan students only) Join the RC’s Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality interns and create Valentine Cards for your friends and loved ones, while discussing love and relationships

Kokomo City Film Screening

Event Time and Date: Thursday, February 8th at 8:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)
Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)
Event Description: (attendance open to the public) 2023. USA. Dir: D. Smith. Documentary. 73 min. (Free). A raw depiction of the lives of four black trans sex workers as they confront the dichotomy between the black community and themselves.

Candid Campus

Event Time and Date: Friday, February 9th from 5:00pm to 6:30pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Malcolm X House Basement
Event Organizers: Ujamaa Black Student Union
Event Description: (attendance open to Wesleyan students only) Candid Campus is a support and listening space for black students to have a conversation about and hold space for our experiences.

Sorry to Bother You Film Screening

Event Time and Date: Friday, February 9th at 8:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)
Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)
Event Description: (attendance open to the public) 2018. USA. Dir: Boots Riley. With LaKeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson. 112 min. ($5). In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a universe of greed.

Embrace Your Colors

Event Time and Date: Saturday, February 10th from 4:00pm to 6:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Malcolm X House Basement
Event Organizers: Ujamaa Black Student Union and Spectrum
Event Description: (attendance open to Wesleyan students only) Embrace Your Colors is a space this Black History Month for black queer students to connect, be in community with each other, and celebrate our diverse and intersectional identities.

3rd Annual Gospel Night

Event Time and Date: Thursday, February 15th at 6:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Memorial Chapel
Event Organizers: The Resource Center and the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships
Event Description: (attendance open to the public) This event will showcase live performances of Christian music coming from the African and African-American experience in recognition of Black History Month and in commemoration of the legacy of artist, activist, and Pulitzer Prize winner Winfred Rembert. Reception with refreshments to follow the event. Please RSVP (link).

Time to Get Back to the Water: Romare Bearden’s Odyssey Blues

Event Time and Date: Friday, February 16th at 4:30pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Downey House 113
Event Organizers: Department of Classical Studies and Department of African American Studies
Event Description: (attendance open to the public) In this multi-media talk, Robert G. O’Meally revisits the artist Romare Bearden’s fiercely original take on Homer’s Odyssey. In his urgency to create a new universal (and unequivocally Black American) epic, Bearden draws on spirituals and the blues. Here is a rewriting of the classic work that suggests how current citizens of the world might twist and turn the storylines in which we find ourselves entangled into bright new fresh-flowing stories of regeneration.

Black Hair Care but Inclusive

Event Time and Date: Saturday, February 16th from 4:00pm to 6:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Malcolm X House Basement
Event Organizers: Caribbean Student Association, Muslim Student Association, Ujamaa Black Student Union
Event Description: (attendance open to Wesleyan students only) Join BSU, Wesleyan’s Muslim Student Association, and Caribbean Student Association for an inclusive black hair care event. All things natural hair, from products to live demonstrations and tips.

Ebony Ball

Event Time and Date: Saturday, February 17th at 8:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Russell House
Event Organizers: Ujamaa Black Student Union
Event Description: (attendance open to Wesleyan students only) Get glamorous for the inaugural Ebony Ball. A chance for Wesleyan’s Black students to celebrate the month in community!

BHM Picture Day

Event Time and Date: Sunday, February 18th from 1:00p to 6:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Digital Design Commons
Event Organizers: Pelumi Sokunbi
Event Description: (attendance open to Wesleyan students only) Black students are encouraged to come as they would like to represent themselves and get their picture taken. 10-minute time slots will be sent out for students to sign up (Sign Up Link). Sign-ups are on a first come first serve basis. Please be sure of the time you are choosing as only limited spots are available to students. If you have a group or a pair you would like to get pictures taken with, you may also sign up with them for a time slot, please list the name of everyone in the group

Carmen Jones Film Screening

Event Time and Date: Saturday, February 17th at 8:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)
Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)
Event Description: (attendance open to the public) 1954. USA. Dir: Otto Preminger. With Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte. 105 min. (Free). Passion! Jealousy! Dancing! Starring an all-Black cast, this musical translates the French opera Carmen to World War II era North Carolina. Dandridge’s captivating performance earned her a nomination for Best Actress — the first for an African American woman.

Brazil Samba Fest

Event Time and Date: Saturday, February 17th at 2:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Schonberg Dance Studio
Event Organizers: Anita Deeg-Carlin, Nadejda Marques, Joya Powell, Beth Jackson, Jim Cavallero
Event Description: (attendance open to the public) Come celebrate the diversity of Brazil and the many ways Cardinals can learn about and visit this magnificent country: learn Portuguese, dance Samba, study abroad, plant trees, study human rights issues, the list goes on – join us for samba, snacks, and information!

MLK Workshop

Event Time and Date: Wednesday, February 21st at 4:30pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Daniel Family Commons
Event Organizers: The Resource Center
Event Description: (attendance open to the public) In honor of the civil rights legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, you are invited to attend a workshop facilitated by CT Black and Brown Student Union entitled “The Cry Is Always The Same: "We Want to be Free," highlighting what our community can do to be aware of and combat overpolicing and the school-to-prison pipeline in lower-income Black and Brown communities. The CTBBSU is a grassroots incubation hub for youth development and institutional change that works at the intersection of education justice, youth leadership development and community safety. Please RSVP (link) by Wednesday, February 14th.

Black-Palestinian Solidarity

Event Time and Date: Thursday, February 22nd at 6:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Malcolm X House Basement
Event Organizers: Students for Justice in Palestine, Ujamaa Black Student Union, and the Revolutionary Student Collective
Event Description: (attendance open to Wesleyan students only) This event will be a political education session that will focus on the solidarity among the Black and Palestinian community through an internationalist struggle against imperialism and colonialism from the early 20th century to present day.

What Comes Next Stage Reading

Event Time and Date: Saturday, February 24th at 2:00pm - 4:30pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Russell House
Event Organizers: SHADES POC Theater Collective
Event Description: (attendance open to the public) Join SHADES POC Theater Collective for a stage reading of the play, What Comes Next, by Seneca Slaton ‘26. The play is about five black teenage girls in the years 1959-1964 as they struggle with wanting to be young and free forever, and the societal pressures and social movements pulling them away from their youth in Montgomery, Alabama.

Jubilee

Event Time and Date: Saturday, February 24th at 7:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Beckham Hall
Event Organizers: Ujamaa Black Student Union, Caribbean Student Association, and African Student Association
Event Description: (attendance open to the public) Come join Ujamaa, the Caribbean Students Association, and the African Students Association for a celebration of Black art and talent!

Shaft Film Screening

Event Time and Date: Saturday, February 24th at 8:00pm ET
Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)
Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)
Event Description: (attendance open to the public) 1971. USA. Dir: Gordon Parks. With Richard Roundtree and Moses Gunn. 100 min. (Free). A crime lord hires black private eye, John Shaft, to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.