Black History Month — Agency and Freedom

We are well into February, and students, faculty and staff have already been participating in a variety of interesting programs to commemorate Black History Month. This week, to honor the legacy of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., the Resource Center and other groups are sponsoring a program led by Joi Lewis, who founded and leads her own consulting firm dealing with issues of diversity, justice and healing. Dr. Lewis explores the idea of “healing justice to invite, inspire, explore and unpack the practice of radical self-care,” and she “illuminates how individuals and institutions transform and move towards true liberation, even against the backdrop of racism and oppression-induced toxic stress and trauma.” Her talk will take place at 12:15 on Thursday, February 15 in the Crowell Concert Hall.

This year many of the programs at Wesleyan for Black History Month are concerned with agency and freedom. Here’s a partial listing:

There are other events going on, such as an exhibition of prints from Wesleyan’s collection by African American artists. Reclaiming the Gaze presents a dynamic survey of African American prints and photographs from the 1930s to the present, such as this one by Robert Pruitt (b. 1975).