Press Release January 30 BHM

Flushing, NY, January 30, 2023—Queens College is once again hosting its annual celebration of Black History Month, complete with events and activities for the campus community. Beginning February 1, these events will occur throughout the month.

A highlight of the month open to faculty, staff, and students will be a fireside chat with Bruce Jackson—Microsoft attorney, executive, and author of the forthcoming Never Far from Home: My Journey from Brooklyn to Hip Hop, Microsoft, and the Law. He will discuss his own rise from a poor childhood in the projects to a leadership position in one of the world’s top corporations, and will put his story in the larger context of racial barriers that remain and continue to deny equal opportunity to all. Jackson’s fireside chat will be facilitated by Jerima DeWese, chief diversity officer and dean of diversity; it will take place on Thursday, February 9, at 12:15 pm in the President’s Lounge (Dining Hall). The first 36 people to arrive at the event will receive a free copy of Never Far from Home.

“Black History Month is a mainstay of our college calendar—important to our entire community,” says Queens College President Frank H. Wu. “For years Queens College has represented an important path to the middle class for New York’s underserved communities. We believe Bruce Jackson has an important message to share, and we are proud of the many wide-ranging subjects and important voices featured this year.”

The Office of Student Development and Leadership is sponsoring several important events in the Student Union (SU). On Wednesday, February 1, at 12:15 pm in the SU Faculty and Staff Lounge, it will hold its Black History Month Trivia Program, a competition with giveaways and prizes. On Friday, February 3, at 6 pm in the SU Ballroom, it will welcome internationally acclaimed poet, playwright, and performance artist Ebony Stewart, whose work concerns the Black experience—especially gender, sexuality, womanhood, queer-positivity, and race. The performance will be followed by a reading of poetry written by members of the Queens College Black Student Union. On Wednesday, February 22, at 12:15 pm in the SU Underground, Professor Lawrence Waldron (Art History) will give a talk on “The Art of Independence: Nationalism and Early Modern Art in the Caribbean.” He will discuss how modern artists challenged the picturesque and deceptively idealized images of the colonial period, exposing the exploitation of the region’s land and people through their use of a far more critical lens.

“We would like to thank and express appreciation to the Africana Studies Department and the Black History Month Planning Committee—led by Natanya Duncan, director of Africana Studies—for their work to plan and organize the college’s Black History Month events,” says DeWese. She adds, “I totally agree with U.S. Representative of New York Yvette Clark when she said, ‘We must never forget that Black History is American History. The achievements of Black People and African Americans have contributed to our nation’s greatness.’ As such, our Black History Month offerings will highlight and serve as reminders of the breadth and richness of those contributions that show up in the some of the greatness we see and enjoy today.”

As part of its annual Black History Month celebration, the Louis Armstrong House Museum—which operates under the aegis of the college—welcomes  visitors to explore how the life of Louis Amstrong influenced world music and the civil rights movement through the special tour, “Black and Blue: Louis Armstrong and Civil Rights in America.” It will be offered Thursdays through Saturdays throughout the month of February. More information is available here.

Multiple other events are scheduled for Black History Month. “QC Is Black History,” a Black History Month scavenger hunt, is scheduled February 1–28. The 25^th Anniversary Celebration of Dancehall Queen will be held Monday, February 6. “Buy Back the Black with SONYMA” is scheduled for Wednesday, February 8. On Wednesday, February 15, at 12:15 pm in the Patio Room, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) will sponsor a free speech event featuring Alex Morey. On Thursday, February 16, there will be a presentation of Lessons from the First Rainbow Coalition. Tuesday, February 21 will feature “CERRU Presents Diaspora Wars: What’s with the Conflict between Black Americans, Africans, Afro Caribbeans, Afro-Latines, and Mixed-Race Black Folk?” Monday, February 27 will see “Because We Love Ourselves: Love, Self-Care, and Social Justice in the 21st Century.” Finally, My Black Queerness will be hosted on Tuesday, February 27, at 6 pm in the SU Ballroom.