March 24, 2015

A Look Back at Black Heritage Month

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Lafayette celebrated Black Heritage Month in February with guest speakers, film screenings, an art exhibit, and community discussions. The theme of the month was “Black Bodies, Black Lives,” which was meant to echo conversations happening at a national level about historical and contemporary race relations, particularly as related to law enforcement and the justice system.

Read more about Black Heritage Month
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Jerry Mitchell, an investigative reporter with the Jackson, Mississippi, Clarion-Ledger, presented the Black Heritage Month keynote lecture. In 1989, Mitchell’s efforts led to the conviction and life sentence of Ku Klux Klan member Byron de la Beckwith for the 1963 assassination of NAACP leader Medgar Evers. In 1996, Mitchell was portrayed by Jerry Levine in the Rob Reiner film, Ghosts of Mississippi, about the Evers case. Photo by Hana Isihara ’17
Students listen to the Black Heritage Month keynote speech by Jerry Mitchell, an investigative reporter with the Jackson, Mississippi, Clarion-Ledger. Photo by Hana Isihara ’17
A student listens to the Black Heritage Month keynote speech by Jerry Mitchell, an investigative reporter with the Jackson, Mississippi, Clarion-Ledger. Photo by Hana Isihara ’17
“Woman in Interior” by David Driskell was part of the exhibit of works by famous African-American artists who have worked with the Experimental Printmaking Institute. The exhibit ran in the EPI/Riley Temple Gallery in the Portlock Black Cultural Center.
Filmmaker Justin Simien visited the Cultural Anthropology class taught by Miranda Campoamor, visiting assistant professor of anthropology and sociology, in Oechsle Center for Global Education. Kayleigh Yerdon ’18 and Cindy Matos ’18 lead the discussion about Simien’s film Dear White People.
Filmmaker Justin Simien discusses his film Dear White People with students in the Cultural Anthropology class taught by Miranda Campoamor, visiting assistant professor of anthropology and sociology.
Students listen to filmmaker Justin Simien discuss his film Dear White People.
Filmmaker Justin Simien discusses his film Dear White People with students at the new theater and film & media studies building on North Third Street.
A student discusses the film Dear White People with filmmaker Justin Simien.
A view from the camera of filmmaker Justin Simien.
Filmmaker Justin Simien discusses his film Dear White People with students at the new theater and film & media studies building on North Third Street.
Harrison Bailey III `95, principal of Liberty High School in Bethlehem, presented the talk, “Intelligence is Not Enough” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Legacy of a Moral Education, during the annual MLK Memorial Luncheon. Photo by Clay Wegrzynowicz ’18
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