Annually Black Historical past Month serves as a reminder for a lot of that there isn’t any American historical past with out the African Individuals who’ve helped to form it.  

UChicago alum Carter G. Woodson laid the groundwork for what would turn out to be Black Historical past Month greater than a century in the past. A educated historian, he witnessed how Black folks have been typically ignored within the books and teachings that fashioned the research of U.S. historical past. In 1915, he and Jesse E. Moorland based the Affiliation for the Research of Negro Life and Historical past, which promoted finding out black historical past as a self-discipline and celebrated the accomplishments of African Individuals. 

This February, quite a lot of College of Chicago occasions welcome audiences to have interaction in conversations concerning the Black expertise within the U.S., spotlight contributions by Black policymakers and students, and have fun the Black heroes and hidden figures all through historical past. 

Feb. 1: Lunch and e-book dialogue 

The Divinity Faculty will host a lunch occasion that includes books chosen by Divinity Faculty college students relating to matters round Black faith, Black life and Black tradition. Attendees could have the chance to socialize and obtain copies of the next (study extra right here): 

• The New Jim Crow  by Michelle Alexander 
• The Fireplace Subsequent Time  by James Baldwin  
• From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor 
• Enfleshing Freedom  by M. Shawn Copeland   
• Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age, by Jerma A. Jackson  

Feb. 1: Fireplace chat with Toni Preckwinkle 

Toni Preckwinkle, AB’69, MAT’77, the president of the Prepare dinner County Board of Commissioners, will be part of the Harris Faculty of Public Coverage for a dialog about Black pleasure, life on the South Facet of Chicago, and the extraordinary and extraordinary figures that we have fun throughout Black Historical past Month. Register right here. 

Feb. 2-22: Lunch conversations 

The Divinity Faculty’s lunch sequence will proceed with a number of featured audio system:  

• Feb. 2: Eboni Marshall Turman, affiliate professor of theology and African American faith at Yale Divinity Faculty  
• Feb. 9: Larycia Hawkins, assistant professor of politics and spiritual research on the College of Virginia 
• Feb. 14: Braxton Shelley, MDiv’17, PhD’17, affiliate professor of music, of sacred music and of divinity on the Yale Divinity Faculty  
• Feb. 22: Nyle Fort, assistant professor of African American and African diaspora research at Columbia College 
• March 2: Jeremy Williams, assistant professor of New Testomony at Brite Divinity Faculty at Texas Christian College

Be taught extra concerning the audio system on the Divinity Faculty web site. 

Feb. 8-22: UChicago Affiliation of Black Alumni occasions

The College of Chicago Affiliation of Black Alumni affinity program is internet hosting a digital sequence of occasions for Black Historical past Month, that includes quite a lot of topics and audio system. All occasions are free and open to all UChicago alumni, college students, employees and pals of the College.

• Feb. 8: Black Neighborhood Impression: A dialog on significant neighborhood change in Chicago that improves folks’s high quality of life. The moderator is UCABA board member Calvin Cottrell, AB’18, director of Neighborhood Outreach and Public Security for Chicago’s forty fourth Ward, and the audio system are Dion Dawson, founding father of Dion’s Chicago Dream, Jahmal Cole, founder and CEO of My Block My Hood My Metropolis, and Sandi Robinson, co-founder of Chi Provides Again. Register right here. 
• Feb. 15: Black Wealth & Funding: A dialog on entry to and constructing wealth with moderator Amber Bradley Williams, affiliate director of the Polsky Middle’s New Enterprise Problem, and audio system Tessa Flippin, founder and managing companion of Capitalise VC, Shanda McFadden, assistant vice chairman of Merrill Lynch Wealth Administration, and Chooki Arinze, PhD’22, co-founder of Kaoshi. Register right here. 
• Feb. 22: Black Psychological Well being: A dialog concerning the significance of psychological well being within the Black neighborhood. The moderator is UCABA board member John Ellis, MD’82 Anesthesiology, an entrepreneur, and adjunct professor on the College of Pennsylvania and the College of Miami, and the audio system are Antonio Wheeler, AM’17, founding father of Anchored in Wellness, and Shaniqua Ford, AM’18, founding father of Soul Werk Cafe. Register right here. 

Feb. 15: Dialogue with Black mayors  

The Institute of Politics will host a dialogue, “Welcome to the Mosaic: The Rise of Black Mayors in American Cities,” which will function Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and former Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins. 

The speak will likely be led by former IOP Pritzker Fellow and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Register right here.  

Feb. 16: Screening of the documentary Madan Sara  

The Pearson Institute will host a screening of the documentary movie Madan Sara, which tells the tales of the ladies often called Madan Sara in Haiti. Regardless of going through intense hardship and social stigma, the Madan Sara work to make Haiti’s financial system run as they dream for a extra simply Haiti.

The occasion additionally will embody and a dialog with the movie’s director, Etant Dupain. Register right here. 

Feb. 18: The thirty eighth Annual DuSable Convention 

Began in 1985, the DuSable Convention is without doubt one of the longest-running conferences led by college students on the College of Chicago Sales space Faculty of Enterprise.

This 12 months’s convention, “Black Ingenuity: Lifting Our Neighborhood as We Climb,” will present a platform for the African American neighborhood to glean insights from individuals who have had a profound influence in enterprise and repair nationally and globally. Register right here.

Feb. 21: Screening and dialogue 

The Crown Household Faculty of Social Work, Coverage and Apply and WBEZ and WTTW will host a screening of the The Huge Payback, which tells the story of Robin Rue Simmons, a council member in Evanston, who led the passage of the primary tax-funded reparations for Black Individuals. Following the movie’s screening, there will likely be a neighborhood dialog. Register right here. 

Feb. 23: Gallery evening at Harris 

The general public is invited to a gallery evening on the Harris Faculty of Public Coverage that includes native artists and meals catered from native, Black-owned companies. Register right here. 

Feb. 24: Fireplace chat with John W. Rogers Jr. 

The Harris Faculty of Public Coverage will welcome John W. Rogers Jr., Lab’76, founding father of Ariel Investments and a UChicago Trustee, for a hearth chat. 

Prof. Katherine Baicker, the dean of Harris, will lead the dialog, which can spotlight the themes of persistence and resilience that Rogers attributes to his success—not solely as an investor, but in addition as a public servant. Rogers and Baicker will look to the ways in which values-based investing impacts the general public sphere and makes manner for extra profitable, equitable communities. Register right here. 

Would you want your Black Historical past Month occasion included in our record? E mail information@uchicago.edu.