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- by  Abby Weingarten
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With an array of artistic and academic events—from campus conversations on race and ethnicity to a “Black Lives Still Matter”-themed symposium—Black History Month (BHM) is going entirely virtual at New College this February.

“For me, I enjoy the sense of activism. I’m excited to be one of the Black voices here at New College,” said second-year Danielle Campbell, one of BHM’s student organizers.

An intern at Sarasota’s WSLR 96.5 Community Radio, Campbell has created her own “Black History Listen-In” event to showcase Black music, literature and businesses throughout the month. She has asked members of the campus and local community to volunteer to read their favorite poems and pieces written by Black authors (an alternative to the usual yearly BHM “Black Literature Read-In” at New College).

“It’s about listening to the voices of those who are unrepresented in the United States, and making sure we recognize—as people and students in Sarasota—that our voice is here to stay,” Campbell said.

And that’s the idea behind New College’s BHM programming as a whole. Campbell is carrying on a tradition that began in 2015, when New College Associate Professor of Sociology Queen Zabriskie, Ph.D. first founded the annual celebration with students Nasib McIntosh, Donovan Brown, Paul Loriston and the late Ijeoma Uzoukwu. Every year since its inception, the program has highlighted “the complexity and multiplicity of blackness and Black experiences” while illuminating and preserving information about Black life.

“BHM is a time for all of us to come together to celebrate and educate ourselves about Black history, culture and life. It is also a time to learn about the similarities and differences in the global Black experience, as well as the contributions that Black people have made to the U.S. and the world,” Zabriskie said. “This year, most of our events will take place virtually because of the COVID-19 virus. We encourage the community, on and off campus, to log in, celebrate, heal and learn with us throughout the month.”

The program is part of the New College Connecting the Arts and Humanities on Florida’s Creative Coast and New College and the Cross College Alliance in the Community programs, which are funded by five-year $750,000 grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

BHM festivities will kick off on February 5 with a “Sur La Bay Music Festival,” which will bring artists’ performances and workshops into attendees’ living rooms (and feature the work of DJ Dubbz, Undine Shorey, Karim Manning, Greg Banks, and New College Assistant Professor of Caribbean/Latin American Studies and Music Hugo Viera-Vargas, Ph.D.).

On February 8 is a conversation on race and ethnicity entitled “A Heritage of Struggle on the Florida Gulf Coast from Angola to Newtown and Beyond” with Uzi Baram, Ph.D., professor of anthropology and heritage studies at New College and the director of the New College Public Archaeology Lab. Baram will share information about his Looking For Angola project, which explores a 19th-century maroon community off the Manatee River.

February 12 and 13 will showcase the “New Schools of Black Thought Symposium: Black Lives Still Matter!,” including a “Justice and the Politics of Care” presentation with keynote presenter Deva Woodly, Ph.D., associate professor of politics at the New School for Social Research.

“As always, our symposium will connect artists, academics and activists for deep conversation,” Zabriskie said. “The symposium will feature a keynote address, two panels and an open mic night. One panel will focus on the local movements against police brutality, and the other on school discipline.”

The week of February 14 to 20 will feature a community service conversation with members of New College’s office of Student Activities & Campus Engagement (SA[u]CE). The SA[U]CE office will work with local community activist Valerie Buchand on a conversation and an activity related to The Newtown Nation on February 15.

On February 17, there will be a healing writing workshop called “Writing for the Resistance: A Writing Salon” with New College Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Emily Carr, Ph.D.; as well as a “Black Music and Literature Listen-In: The Soundtrack of Pan-Africanism,” with Viera-Vargas and Errol Montes-Pizarro, Ph.D. (a mathematics professor at the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Puerto Rico).

A campus conversation on “Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Race in the Antebellum U.S.” with New College Assistant Professor of Political Science Michael Gorup, Ph.D. will be held on February 18.

And the final week of BHM will include a conversation on race and ethnicity called “Suffrage as Activism: Black Women’s Movements for Civil Rights” with Janaka Bowman-Lewis, Ph.D. (associate professor of English, and the director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte) on February 22; and a Healing Workshop called “Racial Healing: Building Interracial Coalitions for Social Change (A Soulcollage Workshop),” facilitated by Radiah Harper (an artist and museum consultant) on February 25.

“February is such an important month to recognize Black history and accomplishments. As a Black woman and a student, I thought, ‘How can I add to that? How can I bring more interest from our student body?,” Campbell said. “It’s a nice, safe space to be in—having this place of understanding of how important it is for students to have a voice, and just trying to uplift that.”

Third-year Ginelle Swan, president of New College’s Black Student Union, agreed.

“I think it’s important to have spaces available for people to learn about what it means to be Black and what it means to be a part of the diaspora. While our history and existence has been tied to strife, I want everyone to know that Black identity is so much more than ‘struggle,’” Swan said. “There is Black joy, Black love, Black magic, etc., and BHM is a way for others to connect to and understand these parts of Black culture. I hope everyone makes some time to attend some of the events and experience something great.”

For more information and a full schedule of BHM events, visit ncf.edu/about/events-and-conferences/black-history-month/. Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public.

Abby Weingarten is the senior editor in the Office of Communications & Marketing.