Black History Month 2012

Historian Carter G. Woodson initiated Black History Week in 1926.  In 1976, during our nation’s bicentennial, the annual celebration was expanded to a month.  A recent article in the Los Angeles Times explores a simmering controversy over the merits of Black History Month.  Some argue that relegating the celebration to just one month out of the year diminishes the centrality of black history to our nation’s overall narrative.   Others maintain that there is nothing wrong with singling out one month to pay special tribute to the experiences and contributions of Africans in America.

At the Bunche Center, every month is “Black History Month.”  But this month, in conjunction with the annual celebration inaugurated in 1976, we have a particularly exciting slate of events scheduled for your enjoyment and enlightenment.

Please join us for:

•Film Screening (Feb. 8, Noon, Haines 135)

“Rikers High”

A look at the students and teachers of ‘Island Academy,’ the high school for inmates of Rikers Island.

•Circle of Thought  (Feb. 9, Noon, Haines 135)

Marne Campbell

“One Never Forgets Los Angeles:  Black Angelenos and Leadership 

at the Beginning of the 20th Century”

•Circle of Thought (Feb. 16, Noon, Haines 135)

Caroline Streeter

•Bunche Center Author Series (Feb. 21, Haines 135)

Kamau Daáood

The Language of Saxophones:

Selected Poems of Kamau Daáood (City Lights Press)

•Film Screening (Feb. 22, Noon, Haines 135)

“The Art of Romare Bearden”

A look at the artist’s development, from the Harlem Renaissance to the 1960s.

•Bunche Center Author Series (Feb. 23, Noon, Haines 135)

Robin D.G. Kelley

Africa Speaks, America Answers:  

Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times (Harvard University Press, 2012)