The month begins with a webinar, an exhibit and a trivia night and concludes with a virtual keynote by Isabel Wilkerson, author of “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.” (Register here.) The month also includes movies, virtual cooking demonstrations, speakers, webinars and more as we celebrate Black History Month.
The national theme for the month, as announced by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, is “The Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity.”
The date for the debut of the Realizing the Dream documentary has been changed to April 6. Learn more at http://realizingthedream.ua.edu/.
Monday, Feb. 1, 6 p.m. via Zoom (Student Session)
Thursday, Feb. 4, noon via Zoom (Faculty/Staff Session)
(Educational Engagement)
As part of the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s Spring 2021 webinar series, the “Pre-Coping: Surviving and Thriving in a Time of Uncertainty” Zoom session will feature Dr. Martha Crowther, associate dean for Research and Health Policy at UA, and Jennifer Turner, assistant director of clinical services and a licensed professional counselor in the UA Counseling Center. Crowther is also a professor and licensed clinical psychologist in Community Medicine and Population Health/Family, Internal and Rural Medicine, and investigator, Institute for Rural Health Research. Registration required: www.tinyurl.com/deiidcevents.
African American Foodways: A History in CookbooksFeb. 1-May 31
Gorgas Library, Pearce Foyer (2nd floor)
Featuring items from the David Walker Lupton African American Cookbook Collection, this exhibit provides an overview of Black foodways as illustrated in cookbooks. Is African American cuisine a branch of Southern cooking or actually its root? Is it all “soul food” — and what does that even mean? It looks at historic trends and evolutions in order to understand who and where, exactly, this cuisine comes from, where it’s been, and where it’s going.
Feb. 1-28
University Libraries Black History Month exhibit, “Stories of Black Families,” will be on display in the Capstone entrance of Gorgas Library. Access the library resource guide. This exhibit features books and films in UA Libraries about Black families. Learn more about the displayed resources at https://guides.lib.ua.edu/bhm2021.
Wednesday, Feb. 3
6-8 p.m., Intercultural Diversity Center (Ferguson 2100)
(Social Enrichment)
The Intercultural Diversity Center will partner with the Women and Gender Resource Center to host a Black History Month trivia night. Participants register for the event as teams and compete with one another to answer questions about Black history in the U.S.A. and at The University of Alabama. Throughout the event, participants also watch video clues designed to provide them with new, nuanced knowledge of Black historical figures and events. Registration is required to participate: https://tinyurl.com/BHMtrivianight. For more information, contact Lizzie Smith at easmith11@ua.edu.
“King: A Filmed Record”Thursday, Feb. 4
7-9 p.m., Camellia Room, Gorgas Library
University Libraries will show “King: A Filmed Record, Part 1” (2012), a documentary that follows King from 1955 to 1968 in his rise from regional activist to world-renowned leader of the Civil Rights movement. Rare footage of King’s speeches, protests and arrests are interspersed with scenes of other high-profile supporters and opponents of the cause.
A discussion of the film, led by Dr. Lorraine Madway, associate dean for Special Collections with University Libraries, will be held afterwards.
Seating is limited and reservations and masks are required.
Sankofa African American MuseumMonday-Thursday, Feb. 8-11
11 a.m.-4 p.m., Intercultural Diversity Center (Ferguson 2100)
Faculty/Staff Lecture: Feb. 8 at 6 p.m.
Student Lecture: Feb. 9 at noon
Walking Tour Recording: Feb. 10 at noon
(Cultural Exploration/Educational Engagement/Social Enrichment)
The Intercultural Diversity Center will host the Sankofa African American Museum, an exhibit of hundreds of African American artifacts highlighting cultural and historical references. Sankofa takes audiences on a journey through slavery, the era of King Cotton and the uplifting days of Emancipation. Angela Jennings, curator and facilitator of museum, will give two presentations on how the Sankofa exhibit began, its importance and other key details. Registration is required for the lectures: www.tinyurl.com/deiidcevents. Also, the lectures will be recorded and placed on the DEI website for students, faculty and staff working and studying remotely.
Tuesday, Feb. 9
12:15-1:15 p.m., via Zoom
Dr. David Augustin Hodge Sr., associate director of Education for the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Healthcare at Tuskegee University, will present “The So-called Tuskegee Syphilis Study, COVID-19, and the Ethics of Trustworthiness.” Before joining Tuskegee University, Hodge served as assistant professor of Philosophy at Georgia State University and as a guest lecturer in philosophy, theology and ethics at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.
The event is sponsored by the College of Community Health Sciences.
Registration is required.
“Cuban Literature in the Age of Black Insurrection: Manzano, Plácido and Afro-Latino Religion”
Wednesday, Feb. 10
3-4 p.m. via Zoom
(Cultural Exploration/Educational Engagement)
The Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies Program will host another installment of its Black History Month Speaker Series featuring University of South Alabama Assistant Professor of Spanish Dr. Matthew Pettway. He will present his recent book, “Cuban Literature in the Age of Black Insurrection: Manzano, Plácido and Afro-Latino Religion,” which argues that Black Cuban colonial authors subverted the symbols of Catholicism to create portrayals of African-inspired spirituality. Such literature had aesthetic and political consequences. In 1844, Spanish authorities executed Gabriel de la Concepcion Valdés (Placido) as the alleged ringleader of “the conspiracy…to exterminate…the white population.” The authorities claimed that Plácido had administered “horrendous oaths” to fellow blacks to ensure unity among them. Pettway will analyze the loyalty oath as a sacred speech act devised to consecrate the Black body for revolution. To attend, contact Dr. Sarah Moody at stmoody@ua.edu.
“American Mirror: The United States and Brazil in the Age of Emancipation”
Wednesday, Feb. 24
3-4 p.m. via Zoom
Dr. Roberto Saba, assistant professor of American Studies at Wesleyan University, will discuss his forthcoming book “American Mirror: The United States and Brazil in the Age of Emancipation.” The book investigates how American and Brazilian reformers worked together to ensure that slave emancipation would advance the interests of capital. From the 1850s to the 1880s, this antislavery coalition—which included diplomats, engineers, entrepreneurs, journalists, merchants, missionaries, planters, politicians, scientists, and students, among others—consolidated wage labor as the dominant production system in their countries. The book shows that these reformers were not romantic humanitarians, but cosmopolitan modernizers who worked together to promote labor-saving machinery, new transportation technology, scientific management, and technical education. They successfully used such innovations to improve production and increase trade.
Wednesday, Feb. 10
11 a.m. until 2 p.m. via Zoom
The UA School of Social Work will host Dr. Mildred C. Joyner, president of the National Association of Social Workers and the John E. & Barbara S. Jacob Inaugural Endowed Professor at Howard University School of Social Work in Washington, DC. She will discuss the African phrase “ubuntu,” social and economic injustice, COVID, and the work of institutions. Registration is required: tinyurl.com/dbg18bzn.
Thursday, Feb. 11
Noon-2 p.m., Intercultural Diversity Center (Ferguson 2100)
(Cultural Exploration/Educational Engagement)
The Intercultural Diversity Center will provide a PowerPoint presentation about important facts of national inventions by created by African Americans. The presentation also will include historical events and general facts of Black History Month within the Center.
Friday, Feb. 12
6 p.m. (virtual)
The Black Law Student Association will be holding this virtual poetry exhibition to uplift and celebrate Black voices, Black art and Black perspectives. Enjoy spoken word poetry performances from Jasmine Mans and DominqueChristina. To register for the event, click this link.
Friday, Feb. 12
7 p.m.
(Educational Engagement/Social Enrichment)
The Intercultural Diversity Center will continue its virtual Spring 2021 Social Justice Movie Series with a screening of “Moonlight” to commemorate Black History Month. Oscar-winner for Best Picture, “Moonlight” is a moving and transcendent look at three defining chapters in the life of Chiron, a young man growing up in Miami. His epic journey to adulthood, as a shy outsider dealing with difficult circumstances, is guided by support, empathy and love from the most unexpected places. Registration is required: www.tinyurl.com/deiidcevents.
Tuesday, Feb. 16
6 p.m. via Zoom
(Cultural Exploration/Social Enrichment)
POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER. This event will be rescheduled.
The Intercultural Diversity Center will host a cooking demonstration featuring celebrity chef Tiffany Derry. She is most famously known for appearances as a culinary expert and judge on several television shows, including “Top Chef,” “Top Chef Amateurs,” “Bar Rescue,” “Top Chef Junior,” “Chopped Junior,” “Bobby’s Dinner Battle,” and “Foodfighters.” Derry is heavily involved in the culinary community with a focus on food access, education, gender and racial equity.
Registration is required: www.tinyurl.com/deiidcevents.
Wednesday, Feb. 17
9 a.m.-4 p.m.
The Black Student Leadership Council will have a day of service for Tuscaloosa Temporary Emergency Services. Three time slots are available with a maximum capacity of 30 students each.
Wednesday, Feb. 17
6 p.m.
(Social Enrichment)
The Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies Program will continue its Spring 2021 Film Series showing “Cerro Rico, Tierra Rica.” The rituals of a mining community are observed in this portrait of life and work in Bolivia’s altiplano. The miners’ lives offer a strong denunciation of the hardships inherent in industrial work, underscoring the impact of global demands for earth’s wealth on the local population. To attend, contact Dr. Micah McKay at mdmckay1@ua.edu.
Wednesday, Feb. 17
6-7:30 p.m.
This event is the first of a three-part series of teach-ins this spring sponsored by the Faculty Task Force on Creating a Commission on Race, Slavery and Civil Rights at The University of Alabama.
Panelists, who will share their research and experiences, are:
Read more about this teach-in.
Sunday, Feb. 21
4 p.m. via Zoom
Adobe Campus Ambassadors Taylor Falls and Noelle Fall will be partnering with the UA Black Faculty and Staff Association to offer an online workshop. Participants will learn how to edit photos in Adobe Lightroom and turn them into graphic designs on Adobe Spark to highlight impactful Black figures.
Adobe Creative Cloud is free with tuition for all University of Alabama students who sign in with their myBama login.
Feb. 22-28
The Black Student Union will host a variety of activities during its annual BSU Week. Community service will be held throughout the week. The organization will be collecting items in the BSU office for the Salvation Army Center of Hope.
Monday, Feb. 22: BSU Got Talent, 7 p.m. on Instagram Live
Tuesday, Feb. 23: Painting with “Love,” 6:30 p.m. Sign-up sheets will go out two weeks before the event. All participants will pick up in the BSU office from 2-5 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 24: Cooking Demonstration, 6 p.m. This event will be a collaboration between BSU and the Intercultural Diversity Center.
Thursday, Feb. 25: State of the Black Union (virtual), 5 p.m. Isabel Wilkerson, author of “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” virtual presentation. ASAP, BAMA Bellas, and AFROs will perform.
Friday, Feb. 26: “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child” virtual screening at 7 p.m. This will be a collaborative event with the Intercultural Diversity Center.
Saturday, Feb. 27: Quizbowl with Black Faculty and Staff Association
Tuesday, APRIL 6 at 6:01 p.m. via Zoom
Learn more at http://realizingthedream.ua.edu/.
Wednesday, Feb. 24
6 p.m. via Zoom
(Cultural Exploration/Social Enrichment)
The Women and Gender Resource Center, in partnership with Blackburn Institute, the College of Arts and Sciences, University Libraries, the Intercultural Diversity Center, and the Black Student Union will host a baking demonstration with Dr. Stacy Jones, UA interim dean of students. She will bake and discuss the classic baked good staple: pound cake. During the demonstration, Jones will touch on her relationship with baking, the Black family and the recipes and work of Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, whose cookbook “Vibration Cooking” is a classic of food and storytelling. Food packs will be given to the first 50 students to register.
Wednesday, Feb. 24
Noon-1 p.m. via Zoom
The wheels of policy often turn slowly, and the advocates who influence policy must be flexible, precise and creative in their work.
This “Multifaceted Approach to Policy Change” can help advocacy groups like the ACLU chapters in Alabama and Mississippi reach their goals. Dillon Nettles, policy and advocacy director for ACLU Alabama, and Alicia Netterville, deputy director/policy counsel for ACLU Mississippi, will discuss their work on the frontlines of policy change in the Deep South, as well as how students can develop relationships with local ACLU affiliates.
Email Sherron Wilkes for Zoom information.
Wednesday, Feb. 24
2 p.m. via Zoom
The College of Human Environmental Sciences Committee on Diversity and Inclusivity will host a virtual showing of “The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement.” In this 2012 Oscar-nominated short film, Alabama barber and civil rights veteran James Armstrong experiences the fulfillment of an unimaginable dream: the election of the first African American president. The documentary was an official selection of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. A discussion will follow the documentary. Register in advance.
Thursday, Feb. 25
6 p.m. via Zoom
(Educational Engagement)
The Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will host Isabel Wilkerson in a virtual keynote to discuss her latest book and The New York Times bestseller, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.” In the book, Wilkerson reveals “a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings,” according to Penguin Random House. More information
Recording of this event is not permitted. Registration is required.
Leading up to Wilkerson’s presentation, the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will continue its Good Trouble book read by featuring “Caste.” Faculty and staff who want to participate in group discussions about the book can sign up via Eventbrite.
Copies of “Caste” are available for purchase at the UA Supe Store and wherever books are sold.
EveryWoman and EveryStudent Book ClubsThursday, Feb. 25
Noon-1 p.m. via Zoom — EveryWoman
4:30-5:30 p.m. via Zoom — EveryStudent
The Women and Gender Resource Center’s EveryWoman Book Club selection for February is Misty Copeland’s “Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina.” This New York Times bestselling memoir by history-making ballerina Misty Copeland recounts her journey to become the first African American principal ballerina at the American Ballet Theatre. Email elester1@ua.edu to attend.
The EveryStudent Book Club will be reading New York Times bestseller “Piecing Me Together” by Renée Watson. The book tells the story of a girl striving for success in a world that too often seems like it is trying to break her.
Friday, Feb. 26
7 p.m.
(Educational Engagement/Social Enrichment)
The Intercultural Diversity Center will continue its virtual Spring 2021 Social Justice Movie Series screening of “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child” to commemorate Black History Month. Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary, but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful black artist, he was constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions. Much can be gleaned from insider interviews and archival footage, but it is Basquiat’s own words and work that powerfully convey the mystique and allure of both the artist and the man. Registration is required: www.tinyurl.com/deiidcevents.
Saturday, Feb. 27
The University of Alabama Black Faculty and Staff Association has partnered with The University of Alabama Division of Student Life to host the Inaugural Intercollegiate Black History Scholar Bowl Competition. Stillman College, Alabama State University and Alabama A&M University have accepted the challenge. Each team will compete to show their scholarly knowledge of African American history, current events and socioeconomic and humanitarian contributions of African Americans to American society.
All undergraduate student clubs, organizations or individually organized student teams of all skill levels are welcome. Registration and team information is available on the BFSA website or scan the QR code in the graphic to the right.
Speak Their TruthVideo collected throughout February
Shown in Intercultural Diversity Center last week of February
Speak Their Truth is a Black women’s virtual read-in project. Participants submit video of themselves reading written or spoken-word pieces from Black women throughout history. Their recorded readings will be posted to the Women and Gender Resources Center YouTube page and will be shown as passive programming in the Intercultural Diversity Center during the last week of February. This project will raise awareness of the literary and leadership contributions of Black women throughout history and provide participants with an opportunity to develop presentation skills.
Videos can be submitted at tinyurl.com/speaktheirtruth.
For more information, email Lizzie Smith at easmith11@ua.edu.
Saturday, Feb. 27 at 6 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 28 at 6 p.m.
This virtual series offers three films from the broader African Diaspora as well as the continent itself. Screenings for this year’s selections will occur online for a 24-hour period from 6 p.m. Feb. 27 to 6 p.m. Feb. 28.
For tickets, visit https://tinyurl.com/africanafilmfest.
For more information, send an email to info.africanafilmfestival@gmail.com or contact Dr. Thad Ulzen or Bill Foster at 334-322-0824 or wm_foster@bellsouth.net.
The event is co-sponsored by AframSouth, Inc., Edward A. Ulzen Memorial Foundation, UA College of Community Health Sciences and Tuscaloosa Sister Cities International.
