“Many Faces of Blackness,” Guilford College’s observance of Black History Month, offers a variety of activities for students in celebration of the African American experience and its contribution to our nation.

This year’s events include, among others, teach-ins, jazz, poetry slams, philosophical discussions, a movie, a black history tour of Greensboro, a hip hop dance session and a voter registration drive.

The schedule for this year’s celebration, including many of the events that have been popular in previous years, incorporates various groups on campus.

One new activity this year is the “Get on the BUS” tour. The tour will commence by stopping at N.C. A&T and Bennett College, giving students the opportunity to visit historic colleges that played important roles in African American and civil rights history.

This celebration of historic black academic institutions is one of the components of the “Get on the BUS” tour, according to junior Kiyhana Williams, president of Blacks Unifying Society.

Williams says it is important for everyone to acknowledge and celebrate the important figures of black history and she sees celebrations like “Get on the BUS” as ways to reiterate the achievements that black leaders made towards racial equality in the past.

“People get disconnected,” Williams said. “These observances should be ongoing, but that’s why we have Black History Month, so people can reconnect with these historic figures.”
“Our history is very important,” said Vice President of BUS Jazmune Monroe, also a junior, in an email interview. “One needs to know about their history in order to work towards a brighter future.”

Following the campus stops, the tour will continue with a visit to the International Civil Rights Museum downtown, the site of the 1960 sit-ins at Woolworth’s.

According to Jada Drew, Africana Community coordinator, this year is unique because Guilford has partnered with Winston-Salem State University in an effort to expose Guilford students to the culture of historically black colleges and universities and to open Guilford’s campus and events to students at WSSU.

In one example of shared celebration, WSSU will join Guilford in hosting a series of poetry slams later on in the month.

Drew pointed out that Black History Month should be for everyone at Guilford and for all Americans.

“It is important to commemorate Black History Month at Guilford because it speaks to our core values of diversity and justice,” Drew said. “We should look at black history as American history and celebrate the contributions of people of the (African) diaspora throughout the years.”

Monroe also emphasized the value of Black History Month.

“It is important for the Guilford community to commemorate Black History Month because it is important to United States history and our black historic figures have done a lot for our country and we should thank them by celebrating,” said Monroe.