Iowa State is celebrating Black History Month with a variety of events from late January through February. For more than four decades, the United States has observed Black History Month to recognize the achievements of African-Americans and honor their contributions to the nation's history.
Throughout February, Parks Library will have a display featuring African-American authors that will be split between the Fireplace Reading Room and a mobile unit that circulates through the building.
The following events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated.
- Feb. 3, Performance, "Meet George Washington Carver," portrayed by ISU alumnus Paxton Williams, program will include gospel music performed by the Corinthian Baptist Church Praise and Worship Team, Des Moines (2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Reiman Ballroom, Alumni Center), $5
- Feb. 3, Networking event, Operation Pipeline, panels, workshops and resource fair designed to expose multicultural students to the resources and information needed to successfully navigate the graduate and professional school admission processes (8:30 a.m.-noon, MU Great Hall)
- Feb. 8, Soul food lunch, a themed menu for Black History Month at all campus dining centers
- Feb. 9, Performance, "The Flying Hobos," the story of former student James Banning, who in 1932 was the first African American to complete a U.S. transcontinental flight (10 a.m., Howe Hall auditorium)
- Feb. 13, Panel presentation, "African Diaspora and Black Experience," stories from those who recently migrated from other countries and those whose ancestors came here, often as slaves (7 p.m., 2256 Multicultural Center, Memorial Union)
- Feb. 15-16, Performance, "The Vagina Monologues," award-winning play featuring women's stories of sexuality and strength (6 and 9 p.m. Feb. 15, 7 p.m. Feb. 16, MU Sun Room), $13, students $10
- Feb. 17, Film screening, "Black Panther" (1 p.m., location TBD)
- Feb. 22, Reception, "A Negro from The South" exhibit, by graduate student Cameron Gray, ISU integrated visual arts (6 p.m., Octagon Center for the Arts, 427 Douglas Ave.), exhibit runs Feb. 19-March 9 in the first-floor gallery
- Feb. 22, Lecture, "Blaxicans and the Future of Identity in the United States," Walter Thompson-Hernandez, Los Angeles-based multimedia journalist and doctoral student in Chicana and Chicano studies, will discuss multiracial identity (7 p.m., MU Sun Room)
- Feb. 28, Screening, ISU film clips of archived interviews by former WOI-TV host Dorcas Speer with black writers Ralph Ellison, author of "Invisible Man," and Chinua Achebe, author of "Things Fall Apart" (4-5:30 p.m., 212 Ross)
