Black History Month events at Miami Oxford and Regionals

Miami University will celebrate Black History Month with a variety of events at all campuses.

Feb. 8
The Miami Regionals’ Diversity and Multicultural Services hosts a Taste of Soul Dinner 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, at the Harry T. Wilks Conference Center on the Hamilton campus. The dinner offers traditional soul cuisine and entertainment by Authorized Personnel, known for R&B, blues, pop, rock, jazz, funk and hip-hop.

Feb. 11
The Taste of Soul Luncheon at the Middletown campus will be 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, in the Miriam G. Knoll Community Center (142 Johnston Hall). Musician Edde Osborne will perform.

These events are free and open to the public but seating is limited. An RSVP is encouraged at MiamiOH.edu/Regionals/DMS. Miami University Regionals’ Hamilton campus address is 1601 University Blvd. The Middletown campus address is 4200 N. University Blvd.

University Libraries host lecture and pop-up exhibition Feb. 12.

Feb. 12
The University Libraries host a lecture, pop-up exhibition and reception at noon Wednesday, Feb. 12, in 320 King Library on the Oxford campus. “Art and Activism: Looking Closer at Historical Documentary Photographs and Contemporary Imagery,” presented by Stephanie Danker, assistant professor of art education, uses the University Libraries’ Freedom Summer Text & Photo Archive to examine artists’ responses to the civil rights movement. A pop-up exhibition of Freedom Summer items and a reception follow the lecture.

Feb. 12
The Presidential Series on Inclusivity and the 2020 Performing Arts Series present “We Shall Overcome: A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” featuring Damien Sneed, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12, at Hall Auditorium on the Oxford campus.

Inspired by the words and actions of Dr. King, the production combines music and culture that includes traditional and modern gospel, classical, jazz, Broadway and spirituals with Sneed and his ensemble. A local choir will join the show.

Tickets purchased by Feb. 10 will receive a One Miami half-off discount. Use code: OneMiami20

Feb. 23
Miami’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion sponsors “Martin Luther King Jr.: When Religion Gets it Right,” featuring Rev. Jack Sullivan Jr., executive director of the Ohio Council of Churches, at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 23, at the Interfaith Center at Miami University, 16 S. Campus Ave., Oxford.

Wil Haygood, author, to speak about a new documentary of his biography of Thurgood Marshall.

Feb. 25
At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25, in the Armstrong Student Center Pavilion on the Oxford campus, journalist and author Wil Haygood (Miami ’76) will debut the trailer for a forthcoming documentary based on his 2015 biography of Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Haygood, the Boadway Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence in Miami’s department of media, journalism & film, will speak on “The American Presidency and Thurgood Marshall,” followed by a question-and-answer session. Learn more online.

Feb. 26
At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, in the Leonard Theater in Peabody Hall on Miami’s Western campus, Miami will premiere the documentary “Training for Freedom: How Ordinary People In An Unusual Time & Unlikely Place Made Extraordinary History.” Directed by former Miami faculty member Kathy Conkwright and produced by the department of media, journalism & film, this new documentary tells the story of the students and civil rights workers who trained at the Western College for Women during the summer of 1964. Following the screening, a panel discussion of Miami scholars and first-person accounts will explore Freedom Summer's historical significance and how we might translate the lessons from 1964 into action today.

Feb. 27
Miami’s Black History Month Banquet featuring Robert Hendricks III (Miami ’11 MS ’13) as speaker, is 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, in Pavilion C at Armstrong Student Center on the Oxford campus. A limited number of tickets will be available for sale at $10 for students and $15 for general admission. Tickets will be sold at a table in Armstrong Student Center and in the Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion.

Volunteers at Freedom Summer at the then Western College for Women in Oxford. Photo by George R. Hoxie; courtesy of Smith Library of Regional History

Many student events are also planned through the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion.

A short video was recently produced summarizing the November Freedom 55 mini-conference co-sponsored by the National Underground Freedom Center and Miami. The weekend explored the local history of Freedom Summer in 1964 plus current lessons and ideas to continue to address voting rights and social inequalities.

Organizers will return to the Freedom Summer theme for some sessions at the National Civil Rights Conference that Miami will host June 22-23.