New College of Florida Celebrates Black History Month

New College of Florida celebrates Black History Month with “Black Constructions: Alternative Modes of Blackness Through Time,” a month-long series of lectures, concerts and film, a conversation about race and ethnicity, the African-American Read-in, and an academic symposium.
This year’s program addresses the diversity of black identities and experiences across time, region, gender, sexuality, and class.  The program ends with a symposium on Feb.  27, “New Schools of Black Thought: A Black History Month Symposium” with renowned author and activist bell hooks.
Below are the events taking place this week:
Monday, Feb. 1 – Sekajipo Performance and Talk
Hamilton Center – 5:00 PM 
Performing artist, activist, youth mentor, and self-proclaimed “revolutionary lover” Dawyen Sekajipo, commonly known as simply SEKAJIPO, is a musician for the people. Inspired by the likes of Outkast, Damien Marley, Tupac, and Lauryn Hill, the Liberian-born, Tampa-raised lyricist has gone from rapper to self-taught guitarist to singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist in the span of only a few years. Sekajipo – https://www.reverbnation.com/SekajipoMusic
Thursday, Feb. 4 – Dr. Omotayo Jolaosho, “Singing for Freedom in South Africa”
Sainer Pavilion – 7:00 PM 
What is the role of music in movements for social change? In this interactive lecture, which will include video clips from South African protests and other activist events, Omotayo Jolaosho will explore the songs that galvanized anti-apartheid movements and their continued relevance for a new South Africa.
Omotayo Jolaosho is a cultural anthropologist with a background in music and integrated arts. Since 2007, she has worked with activists investigating the role of embodied performance in community mobilizations for social change in South Africa. Her research has been supported by awards from Fulbright-Hays, National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Social Science Research Council, among others.
Her work extends beyond South Africa as the co-editor of African Women Writing Resistance: Contemporary Voices, a transnational anthology on African women’s strategies of contestation and resistance to the challenges they experience. She is currently a faculty member in the Department of Africana Studies at the University of South Florida.
Friday, Feb. 5  – Dr. Omotayo Jolaosho – Song and Poetry Workshop 
Music Room, College Hall – 12:00 Noon
This workshop will draw on Dr. Jolaosho’s research on anti-apartheid protest songs in South Africa as well as other protest song traditions.