The African American Heritage Festival is one of several virtual events the Multicultural Center is hosting for Black History Month. Credit: Jessica Langer | Lantern Reporter
Akilah Smith was a first-year student when she attended the African American Heritage Festival for the first time. Smith said she was one of few freshmen to go to “Mahogany Moments,” a gala-style dinner that signals the end of the festival’s week of events, and it was there that she fell in love with her own culture and heritage even more.
“That was an experience that I wanted to continue on and heighten for others to come after,” Smith said.
Now the co-overall chair of the Office of Student Life’s Multicultural Center’s African American Heritage Festival Committee, Smith, a fourth-year in human development and family science, said she is ready to spread her joy to others at the virtual festival and other events that take place during Black History Month — also known as United Black World Month.
The African American Heritage Festival is one of several virtual events the Multicultural Center is hosting for Black History Month. The center will begin Wednesday with an opening celebration and end March 6, Katherine Betts, the Multicultural Center’s intercultural specialist of African American student initiatives, said. She said this year’s programs focus on the current rise of Black activism.
“It’s the time of the year that there are a lot of programs and a lot of ways for the experiences of Black students to be acknowledged on campus, and the students look forward to that and participate,” Betts said.
Betts said the theme, “Black Lives: Narratives of Activism Around the World,” was chosen to center on the heightened civil unrest with the Black Lives Matter movement that occurred this past summer. All the events will be virtual but interactive, and students will be able to talk in chats, take part in a Q&A session and watch video performances for the events.
“We want to give a space for free expression and space for conversation and a space for celebration. And that is what we’re hoping for,” Betts said.
The opening celebration, Betts said, will feature a presentation by LaTosha Brown, a political activist and co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund who focused on Black voter turnout in Georgia’s past election, on the importance of what activism means for the Black community.
Betts said many student organizations and university departments, such as the Student Wellness Center and The National Panhellenic Council, contributed by leading some events and spreading the word on social media.
According to the Multicultural Center’s website, other events include a photography exhibit of photos taken during the summer’s protests in Columbus, a yoga and journaling session focused on analyzing recent and historical instances of discrimination within the Black community, and a discussion on how Black activism intersects with other social movements.
Black History Month, Betts said, is also a time for many to learn about Black culture and engage with the topics the events cover.
“Once we leave the university, we have to work with people who are culturally different from ourselves,” Betts said. “To understand someone else’s lived experience and point of view we have to be willing to put ourselves in some of those cultural moments to be able to learn and dismantle any preconceived thoughts or ideas that we may have.”
The last week of Black History Month will end with the 43rd African American Heritage Festival. Smith said the festival’s theme is “Furaha,” meaning “joy” in Swahili.
“Our goal is to bring a lot of joy to those who attend our programs,” Smith said. “We want to be something so memorable from this COVID year where everyone says that it still was as amazing as it always is.”
The festival begins Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. with the “BuckDown Rodeo” going live on the festival’s Instagram page. Students will listen to country rodeo music and receive line dancing lessons, featuring prominent Black businesses in Columbus.
Faith Metlock, a fourth-year in nursing and co-overall chair of the African American Heritage Festival, said while this year’s festival is fully online, the events will encompass the ideals and space needed for students to get the genuine experience. Students will have the opportunity to attend talent and poetry showcases, cultural awareness programs and a Gospel Fest.
Smith said the events are also interactive, as students will be able to join the Instagram Live, win prizes and ask questions.
“It’s really important to us to provide these spaces for our African American students to have an opportunity to celebrate in the Black excellence since we do go to a predominately white institution that does not typically have these events regularly available for its students,” Metlock said.
Students will be able to access and register for the events by going to the United Black World Month webpage and the African American Heritage Festival webpage.
