Northern Michigan University's Black Student Union is celebrating Black History Month with several events in February. They include a Black History 101 Mobile Museum making a stop at Jamrich Hall, a comedy show featuring comedians who have appeared on network television programs, film screenings and a Black Love Day bake sale. All events are free, unless otherwise noted.
The Black History 101 Mobile Museum combines historical artifacts with current events to create an opportunity to engage with Black history. Founder and curator Khalid el-Hakim and his team created an exhibit with engaging story-telling and dialogue with students, faculty and staff. The museum is viewable from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, on the first-floor middle lobby of Jamrich.
BSU and Campus Cinema will screen the feature film Till at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, in Jamrich 1100. Mamie Till became one of the leading educators and activists in the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement after her 14-year-old son, Emmett, was severely beaten, shot dead and thrown in the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi after being accused of whistling at a white woman.
The “Black Love Day Bake Sale” will be from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, at the Jamrich ticket booth. Desserts will be available for purchase that include notes about what each is and how the public can spread the joy.
The bake sale celebrates Black Love Day, created in 1993 by Ayo Handy-Kendi, the founder of the African American Holiday Association. The holiday of observance, celebration, reconciliation, atonement and demonstration of love within and for the Black community uses five loving acts; love for the creator, self, family, community and the Black race.
Another event is the BSU Comedy Show showcasing comedians Daphnique Springs, James Davis and Marina Franklin. The show is from 7 to 10 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023, in Jamrich 1322. Springs starred in How I Met Your Mother (CBS) and Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC). Davis is the creator of the Comedy Central series Hood Adjacent with James Davis and has written for The Late Late Show with James Corden. Franklin is best known for her work on Single Black Female and Hysterical on FX on Hulu.
Another film, The Woman King, will be screened by BSU and Campus Cinema at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, in Jamrich 1100. In the 1800s, a group of all-female warriors protects the African kingdom of Dahomey with skills and fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen. Faced with a new threat, Gen. Nanisca trains the next generation of recruits to fight against a foreign enemy that's determined to destroy their way of life.
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