Black History Month
Efforts to dedicate a specific time to center Black history and narratives began in the early 19th century and was championed by Carter G. Woodson, the “father of Black history” and co-founder of the Study of Negro Life and History, now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Woodson first established the second week of February as “Negro History Week” because it captures the birthdays of both Fredrick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Since 1976, the month of February has been designated as Black History Month in the United States.
During this month, Macalester College invites our campus to center and learn Black history, art, film, literature, and research by engaging in intentional community and thoughtful dialogue.
If you would like to have a program featured, please submit details via our online form.
Please note that the events below are coordinated by different organizations and departments at Macalester. Use the links below for further information or directly contact the event host with questions.
Black History Month Community Luncheon
Thu., Feb. 13 | 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. | Weyerhaeuser Hall Boardroom
RSVP Form
Hosted by: Institutional Equity | equity@macalester.edu
Institutional Equity invites our campus community to attend our annual Black History Month Community Luncheon centering our Black students, staff, faculty, and alumni. During our time together we will have the opportunity to share how food and shared meals have been a foundation in building our connections and communities.
To attend, please RSVP.
Winter Sanctuary Garden with Maya Washington – KAIGC Creative Changemaker Resident
Maya Washington is an award-winning director, narrative and documentary filmmaker writer/director/producer), actress, writer, poet, creative director, visualist (photography) and arts educator. She received a BA in Dramatic Arts from the University of Southern California and an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. Her background, on stage/camera and behind the scenes, has given her the opportunity to work on everything from public art, live theatre, commercials and print ads, to web series, films and television.
To learn more about Maya Washington and the Winter Garden Sanctuary please review the following document – Winter Sanctuary Garden
Love and Peacemaker Space
Fri., Feb. 14 | 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. | Markim Hall
Hosted by: Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship | igc@macalester.edu
The Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship (KAIGC) and the Macalester community are invited to engage in the creation of garden stones and wishes that will become part of the outdoor installation in the pollinator garden outside of the KAIGC building. Maya will be available for creativity facilitation while participants decorate garden stones, and write wishes for themselves and the community.
Annual Leola Johnson Lecture in Media and Cultural Studies with Maya Washington
Wed., Feb. 19 | 5:00 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. | Location TBD
Hosted by: Media and Cultural Studies | jkim5@macalester.edu
SAVE THE DATE! – More information to come.
Community Warming Space
Fri., Feb. 21 | 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. | Markim Hall
Hosted by: Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship | igc@macalester.edu
The Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship (KAIGC) and the Macalester community are invited to the outdoor installation in the pollinator garden outside of the KAIGC building, and to enjoy a multimedia warming space and open mic.
French Lecture Series “Anger in the Wind” with filmmaker Amina Weira
Mon., Feb. 17 | 4:45 p.m. | Humanities 401
Hosted by: French & Francophone Studies | lalaoui@macalester.edu
Co-sponsors: African Studies, Environmental Studies, Media and Cultural Studies, and KAIGC
In celebration of Black History Month, we are excited to host film director Amina Weira from Niger, who will discuss her film Anger in the Wind – La Colère dans le Vent. The film screening will be followed by a dialogue with Professor Moustapha El Hadji Diop and an open Q&A session with Amina Weira.
About the film: Filmmaker Amina Weira travels to her hometown of Arlit in northern Niger, where she interviews the town’s residents about the negative environmental and health consequences of plutonium mining. French mining companies have mined uranium there since 1976. Ms. Weira’s father, a retired uranium mineworker, is at the heart of this film. He shares his memories of 35 years spent in the mines.
About the director: Amina Weira, a film director and editor, has already completed five shorts and she is developing new projects. As editor or assistant to directors, she worked with prestigious African filmmakers such as Kaba Kadai Riba (Etincelles), Eva Von Tongeren, Mama Njikam Mbouobouo, Rob Lemkin and Gerald Igor Hauzenberger, mostly documentaries on Niger and a feature film. La Colère est dans le vent (2016) brought Weira global attention due to the legacy of French mining exploitation in Niger.
Inaugural Lecture of Walter D. Greason as DeWitt Wallace Professor of History
Thu., Feb. 20 | 4:45 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. | Kagin Ballroom
RSVP Form (In-Person) | RSVP Form (Virtually)
Sponsored by: President, Provost, and Special Events | wulff@macalester.edu
“Peace in the Twenty-Second Century: An Afrofuturist History”
Dr. Walter David Greason is DeWitt Wallace Professor of History at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he has taught since 2021. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Villanova University (1995) and a PhD in history from Temple University (2004).
Greason is an historian who uses digital technologies to coordinate historic restoration projects around the world. His areas of research include urban planning, Afrofuturism, and multimedia user experience design. Greason is an author, editor, and contributor to more than twenty books, including the Suburban Erasure: How the Suburbs Ended the Civil Rights Movement in New Jersey (2014), The Black Reparations Project (2023), andThe Graphic History of Hip Hop (2024), a project created in collaboration with New York City Public Schools.Between 2009 and 2019, he served as national treasurer for the Society for American City and Regional Planning History and as a board member of the Urban History Association. He also has been a key contributor to the African American Intellectual History Society.
In 2016, after the release of the Marvel Studios film Captain America: Civil War, Greason published the “Wakanda Syllabus,” which he notes brought two decades of artistic and intellectual work into a global discussion about black superheroes and science fiction. Just before Marvel Studios released Black Panther in 2018, Greason published his work on designing the urban infrastructure of Wakanda in Cities Imagined, co-authored with Julian Chambliss. The combination of the “Wakanda Syllabus” and Cities Imagined deepened academic fascination with and exploration of the ideas of Afrofuturism.
A reception with Professor Greason will follow the lecture.
Dialogue and Dinner about Abolitionist Design with Dr. Terresa Moses
Mon., Feb. 24 | 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. | The Loch
RSVP Form
Hosted by: Institutional Equity | equity@macalester.edu
“[Artists] are here to disturb the peace.” –James Baldwin
Dr. Terresa Moses is the Creative Director and Co-founder of Blackbird Revolt, Owner of Black Garnet Books, and an Associate Professor of Graphic Design and the Director of Design Justice at the University of MN.
As intentional artists, we have a responsibility to disrupt, dismantle, and destroy systems of oppression. The design industry has the time, money, and resources to use design to hold space for the voices of systemically oppressed communities while we work towards a collective future free from violence. Our creative abilities give us the means to collectively share stories in ways that invoke change and inspire action and advocacy for communities that have historically been underrepresented, underserved, and underinvested. Although the concept of abolition isn’t a new one, the 2020 Uprisings provided a reintroduction to this way of thinking to the global public.
During our dialogue with Dr. Moses, we will learn more about abolitionist design, explore our role as designers, and our duty to engage in design with an abolitionist mindset which she argues is the only means to collective liberation.
Mahmoud El-Kati Distinguished Lectureship in American Studies featuring andré carrington
Fri., Feb. 28 | 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. | John B Davis Lecture Hall
RSVP Form (Required)
Hosted by: American Studies | jstarbir@macalester.edu
Macalester alumnus Prof. andré carrington is a scholar of race, gender, and genre in Black and American cultural production. The title of his talk is “Revenants and Terminators: Motives for Black Speculative Fiction.“
His first book, Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction (Minnesota, 2016) interrogates the cultural politics of race in the fantastic genres and fan cultures. He is currently at work on a second mongraph, Audiofuturism, on radio adaptations of Black speculative texts. He is past recipient of fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard and the National Humanities Center. His writing appears in journals, books, and blogs including Verso and Black Perspectives.
Previous Events and Programs
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Minnesota Voting Rights Symposium: Our Past, Our Present, Our Future
Thu., Feb. 1 | 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. | St. Thomas University – Anderson Student Center
Supported by: Community Engagement Center, Institutional Equity, and Lealtad-Suzuki Center for Social Justice | cec@macalester.eduJoin FairVote MN, the University of St. Thomas, Macalester College, the Humphrey School, and the African American Leadership Forum (AALF) for a symposium on voting rights!
The symposium will convene a diverse and influential gathering of voting rights academics, thought leaders, students, community members, and political figures to engage in deep and meaningful conversations about the evolution of voting rights in Minnesota. We will tackle the challenges our democracy currently faces and explore transformative reforms like ranked choice voting that can help reduce extremism, encourage coalition-building and build a more representative and inclusive future for our state and our nation. Confirmed speakers and panelists include Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, St. Thomas Professor Yoruhu Williams, and Stanford Professor Larry Diamond.
Soiree Noire
Fri., Feb. 2, 9, 16 | 8:30 p.m. | Varying Locations
Hosted by: Afrika!, B.L.A.C., and Program Board | zabdu@macalester.eduIn this Black History Month event series, local Black musical artists and groups will perform at Macalester every Friday in The Loch throughout February. Doors open at 8:30 p.m., music starts at 9:00 and light refreshments will be served. The series includes:
- Feb. 2: Brandyn Lee Tulloch – The Loch
- Feb. 9: Ozone Creations – Campus Center Atrium
- Feb. 16: Nur-D – Campus Center Atrium
Black History Month Community Luncheon
Tue., Feb. 6 | 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. | Weyerhaeuser Hall Boardroom
Hosted by: Institutional Equity | equity@macalester.eduInstitutional Equity invites our campus community to our Black History Month Community Luncheon that will center the stories and experiences of Black students, staff, faculty, and alumni. This will be a time to share a meal and build community through conversation.
French Lecture Series: Mark Roudané: “Unis Pour La Justice: L’Union et La Tribune de La Nouvelle-Orléans.”
Tue., Feb. 12 | 4:45 p.m. | Humanities Building 401
Hosted by: French & Francophone Department | lalaoui@macalester.edu“Mark Charles Roudané, author of “The New Orleans Tribune: An Introduction to America’s First Black Daily Newspaper,” is currently writing a full-length book on the Tribune. He hopes this inspirational and underrepresented history will inspire wider audiences and foster greater appreciation for one of America’s most significant civil rights movements.”
Mark Charles Roudané, author and public historian, was born in New Orleans in 1951. He is the great, great grandson of Dr. Louis Charles Roudanez, founder of the South’s first Black newspaper, L’Union, as well as the New Orleans Tribune, America’s first Black daily. Inspired by his heritage, Mark has spent the last decade passionately researching these groundbreaking journals and bringing this inspirational and underrepresented history to the general public. His book, The New Orleans Tribune, An Introduction to America’s First Black Daily Newspaper, has reached a wide audience. Roudané’s articles have appeared in numerous journals, including the Atlantic, and 64 Parishes. Mark has presented on L’Union and the Tribune at universities, museums, and cultural organizations throughout the United States.
French Lecture Series — Black History Month
Monique Ilboulo — “Être une femme au pays des hommes intègres”
“On Being a Woman in the Land of the Incorruptibles”Tue., Feb. 20 | 4:45 p.m. | Humanities Building 401
Hosted by: French & Francophone Studies | frenchdept@macalester.eduMonique Ilboudo is an author and human rights activist from Burkina Faso. She was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Burkina Faso to the Nordic and Baltic countries.
Ilboudo received the national first prize for Best Novel with her 1992 Le Mal de Peau (The Ill of the Skin). The novel deals sensitively with subjects such as the colonial experience, prejudice and miscegenation. Murekatete, a novel written as part of the project “Rwanda, writing as a duty of memory”, was published in 2001. Murekatete is the name of a woman, and means “let her live”. The woman is haunted by memories of the Rwandan genocide. Trying to overcome her complex and return to normal life, she and her husband visit the memorial site at Murambi. The move only makes the problem worse. The story is written in the first person, in few words. In 2006, Ilboudo published Droit de cité, être femme au Burkina Faso (Freedom of the City, being a woman in Burkina Faso). (Source Wikipedia)
Forty-Second Annual G. Theodore Mitau Endowed Lecture
Omar Wasow — NARRATIVE POWER: How the Civil Rights Movement Overthrew Jim CrowThu., Feb. 22 | 4:45 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. | Campus Center – John B. Davis Lecture Hall
Hosted by: Political ScienceOmar Wasow is an Assistant Professor in UC Berkeley’s Department of Political Science. His research focuses on race, politics and statistical methods. His paper on the political consequences of the 1960s civil rights movement was published in the American Political Science Review. His co-authored work on estimating causal effects of race was published in the Annual Review of Political Science. Before joining the academy, Omar served as a regular on-air technology analyst and was the co-founder of BlackPlanet.com, a social network he helped grow to over three million active users. In 2003, he helped found a high performing K-8 charter school in Brooklyn. He is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He received a PhD in African American Studies, an MA in Government and an MA in Statistics from Harvard University.
Wine in the Wilderness: Written by Alice Childress at the Penumbra Theatre
Thu., Feb. 22 | 7:30 p.m. | Penumbra Theatre
Sponsored by: Institutional Equity | equity@macalester.eduFrom playwright Alice Childress, Wine in the Wilderness follows artist Bill Jameson who is focused on finishing his latest paintings during an uprising in his Harlem neighborhood. While finishing his works that represent three types of Black womanhood, the arrival of an unexpected muse challenges his shallow assumptions and artistic vision. As Childress’s most revolutionary and essential playwright, she takes on class, patriarchy, and the artist’s role within the community through humor and heart.
Sha Cage ’95
A Moment of Silence: Survival, Struggle, and JoyMon., Feb. 26 | 5:00 p.m. | The Loch
Hosted by: Institutional Equity | equity@macalester.eduPerformance artist and poet Shá Cage ‘95 has been called a leader of her generation.
Accompanied by poet & media maker E.G. Bailey, the evening will feature Cage’s highly engaging signature storytelling and spoken word that centers the complexity of Blackness.
Shá Cage is a renaissance artist, poet, director and producer of theater and film. Her work has taken her across the U.S. to Tokyo, Osaka, South Africa, Mali, England, Bosnia, Toronto, Sweden, Vancouver, and Berlin. She has been called a change-maker and one of the leading artists of her generation. She also writes plays and poetry and has experienced a successful career as an award winning actor. Recent directing credits include: Jaclyn Backhaus’ Men on Boats, Michael John Garces’ 36 Yesses, Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel, Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Everybody, Joselyn Bioh’s African School Girls, and Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds, adapted by Michael J. Bobbitt. Recent films include: the feature documentary for PBS/TPT titled Underbelly that spotlights healing and activism in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, Kiss the Tiger’s Grown Ass Woman, horror short, You’re Home Now, and At the Corner of Experimental Doc series.
Sports Futurism: How Sports Could Look In A More Just World
Tue., Feb. 27 | 4:45 p.m. – 6 p.m. | Markim Hall – Davis Court
Co-Sponsored by: Geography, History, Media and Cultural Studies, Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship, Athletics Department, Provost’s Office, and Institutional EquityNotable sports journalist Dave Zirin will discuss a new book project on “sports futurism.” Inspired by Afro-futurism, this concept is about what sports could look like in a more just future unshackled by oppression and liberated by technology. A Macalester alum (class of 1996), Dave Zirin has written several books on sports and society in the US, with an emphasis on racial justice issues, including “A People’s History of Sports in the United States”, “The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World”, and “Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports”. He currently serves as the Sports Editor of “The Nation” and hosts the “Edge of Sports” podcast and accompanying website (www.edgeofsports.com). He is based in Washington, DC.
Macalester Orchestra Concerto Concert
Fri., Mar. 1 | 8:00 p.m. | Mairs Hall
Hosted by: Music Department | musicdept@macalester.eduThe Macalester Orchestra is rehearsing music by William Grant Still throughout the month of February. William Grant Still (1897-1978) was known during his lifetime as the the “Dean” of African American composers, earning this agnomen by being a breakthrough artist in many areas: the first Black musician to conduct many leading orchestras and the first Black composer to have his music premiered at New York City Opera. The Macalester Symphony celebrates this legacy by performing his “Wood Notes” Suite which is inspired by the poetry of J. Mitchell Pilcher of Alabama along with concertos performed by student soloists.