By | Gabrielle Kennedy
As we celebrate Black History Month it's important to celebrate its roots while also celebrating where we are and remembering the work that still needs to be done. Being Black at Kent State we had a special connection to the history of Black History Month because of our school's unique hand in advocating for celebrating Black culture for the full month of February instead of only a week. In 1926, before Black History Month was known as what it is now, it was referred to as Negro History Week, which was established by Carter G Woodson, Ph.D., who was the Founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Just 43 years later in 1969, Kent States Black United Students org advocated for this celebration to occur for the entire month. A week was not enough to commemorate our culture and history.
After a year of careful planning with the support of both campus educators combined with BUS, Black History Month was finally observed for the first time in 1970 on Kent State’s campus. Although it was observed on our campus it wasn’t until 1976 when February finally obtained a formal national designation to be recognized as Black History Month by President Gerald Ford. While it took a while for the world to catch up with our campus’ mission to commemorate our history to its fullest, we already had established this celebration within our campus.
Being a Black student at Kent I am proud to say that our campus had such an important influence on making sure our culture, history, and people were properly celebrated and remembered. Furthermore, since Kent is a predominantly white institution it is important that we have this history attached to our school and that we have BUS that continues to be an amazing support system for every Black student on campus throughout the decades it has been around for.
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Sources
Aquino, Lyric. “Black History Month: A Kent State Legacy.” KentWired, kentwired.com/12931/latest-updates/black-history-month-a-kent-state-legacy/. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
Basketball, Kent State Women’s. “Black History Month Fun Fact Friday! Kent State University’s Black United Students Organization Was the First Official Organization to Celebrate Black History Month! 💙⚡️ PIC.TWITTER.COM/RBQ56CFC3J.” Twitter, Twitter, 5 Feb. 2021, twitter.com/KentStWBB/status/1357800460028162048.
“Black History Month.” Kent State University, www.kent.edu/smc/black-history-month. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
Vincent, Emily. “Tracing the Origins of Black History Month.” Kent State University, 1 Feb. 2023, www.kent.edu/today/news/tracing-origins-black-history-month.
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