Students Celebrate Black History Month

By Hadeiya Ameen

Black History month is more than just the networks such as BET (Black Entertainment Television) providing updates on African Americans who contributed to American history. Marian University students expressed what Black History month means to them.


In celebration of Black History Month, Marian University’s UBI (Union of Black Identity) committee hosted its 43 annual ‘Soul Food’ luncheon on Thursday, Feb.
23, from 12 to 2p.m. in Clare Hall’s lobby.

Organizer Kyle Radliff, President of UBI, and other committee members hoped the students attending would walk away with a better understanding of African American
history. Guest speakers who lived during segregation shared their thoughts and experiences.

Randa Peterson, guest speaker, baked some of the food and spoke about where ‘soul food’ comes from and what it means to African Americans.

African American history wasn’t properly noted until the 20th century. While studying at Harvard, Dr. Woodson, a scholar and son of a former slave, noticed the
missing and misrepresentation of African Americans in American history. Woodson led the movement to bring African American history into the public consciousness.

Determined to encourage the study of Black history and tell the story of his people, he founded the ‘Association for the Study of Negro Life’ in 1915. A year later, he began publishing what known as the Journal of African American History. Page by page, African Americans wrote themselves into the history books.

With a swell of support, he organized the first annual Negro history week, during the second week of February, to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass.

Twenty-six years after Dr. Woodsons death, Negro History week became ‘Black History’ month. Radliff stated that Black history month is a time to, “celebrate those before us who paved a way for us to achieve our goals, whether it is in entertainment or
politics. It’s a time to show appreciation and respect for what the slaves went through.”
Clay Kendrick, Public
Relations and Recruit-
ment for UBI indicated
that Black history month
means, “we still have a long way
to go, and as we move forward, we
need to keep those who have made
a difference in mind. There are so
many influential African Ameri-
cans who contributed to American
history, that to just mention one,
wouldn’t do it justice.”