Feb. 3
The Kickoff
Featuring Dr. Cicero Fain, assistant provost, and presenting K12 and Marshall student winners of the Annual Black History Poster Competitions. Reception at 4 p.m., supported by Drinko Academy, School of Art & Design and The Woodson Lyceum, followed by presentations at 4:30 p.m. – all at Marshall’s Visual Art Center, Pullman Square, downtown Huntington.
Feb. 4
Divine 9 Spring Convocation
Engage with leaders, alumni and members of the Divine 9 in a space built for connection and conversation. This forum is mandatory for students seeking membership into a historically Black Greek letter organization. Location: Shawkey Dining Room, 7 p.m. Sponsored by Campus Activities Board.
Feb. 7
The Dr. Carter G. Woodson Lyceum and the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism & Mass Communications will be co-sponsors of a Black History Month Town Hall at the Paley Center for Media in New York City, at 7 p.m. Dr. Rob Quicke, director of the JMC, is co-founder of Student News Live, organizer of this invitation-only event.
Feb. 7, 21, 28
Black History Month Power Hour
Join us and WMUL Radio Station at 12 p.m. – https://www.marshall.edu/wmul/ We will celebrate Black History through music. Break out your bell bottoms, leg warmers or parachute pants as we take you on a musical journey on Friday afternoons in February. We will play your favorite R&B hits of the ‘80s, ’90s and early 2000s. Submit your favorite songs and you may hear them on the radio: https://www.marshall.edu/caas/black-history-month-power-hour/ For additional information, contact Shaunte Polk, at polk4@marshall.edu or Destiny Tomblin at tomblin89@marshall.edu
Feb. 11
Memorial Student Center, John Marshall Dining Room – 7 p.m.
Take a chance on love and fortune this Valentine’s Day! Join the Campus Activities Board for a night full of games, prizes and heart-pounding excitement.
Feb. 16
“Poets and Portraits,” First Baptist Church, Huntington
An exploration of the African American experience through song, featuring music faculty Dr. Carline Waugh, soprano, and Dr. Johan Botes, piano. Location: 801 6th Avenue, at 5 p.m. This program is sponsored by the First Baptist Church, Marshall University College of Arts & Media, the School of Music and The Dr. Carter G. Woodson Lyceum. The recital is free and open to the public. Donations are accepted for the benefit of the Benevolence Fund at First Baptist Church.
Feb. 19
Annual Dr. Carter G. Woodson Lecture co-sponsored by the Drinko Academy and The Woodson Lyceum
Featuring former West Virginia State Senator Marie Redd, a descendant of the Burlington 37, former enslaved people who were relocated to Burlington, Ohio. The lecture begins at 4 p.m., followed by a reception. — both located in Shawkey Dining Room, Memorial Student Center.
Feb. 19
Memorial Student Center, Marcos Room, 6 p.m. Trap and Paint
Come out and paint to the rhythm of popular trap music hits, while also painting a masterpiece! Sponsored by Campus Activities Board.
Feb. 20
A lecture featuring Laurie Goux, a nationally known dancer and instructor at 4 p.m., Shawkey Dining Room, Memorial Student Center.
Ms. Goux will discuss “Dance and the African Diaspora in Appalachia,” based on a recent exhibition she curated in North Carolina.
Feb. 22
Great Soul Food Cook-Off, Memorial Student Center, Don Morris Room, 3 p.m.
Celebrate Black History Month through food. Come witness three of Huntington’s top chefs battle it out, blending bold flavors and soulful traditions at this sizzling twist of your favorite Food Network cook-off show! You’ll have the power to vote and crown the ultimate champion as “The Great Soul Food Cookoff” winner. Don’t miss this epic culinary showdown! For more information contact Shaunte Polk, at polk4@marshall.edu or Destiny Tomblin at tomblin89@marshall.edu
Feb. 27
Memorial Student Center, Shawkey Dining Room – 7 p.m.
106 and Party (Y2K Party). Celebrate Black History Month with a throwback event, where we honor the music, style, and culture of the 2000’s!
About Black History Month / The Woodson Lyceum
Negro History Week/Black History Month
Dr. Carter G. Woodson (Dec. 19, 1875-April 3, 1950), the Father of Black History, said the turning point in his career was his West Virginia years, a period that included graduation from Huntington’s Douglass School (1896), service as its principal (1900-1903) and work as a coal miner. Dr. Woodson created the first “Negro History Week” in February 1926, and his followers expanded it to a month 50 years later. Dr. Woodson’s writings (and those of his associates) clearly show he advocated the study of Black History throughout the year.
The Dr. Carter G. Woodson Lyceum
The Woodson Lyceum at Marshall University was created in 2016. It takes its name from Aristotle’s first school, which was called a lyceum, but the name also is closely associated with justice and freedom for African Americans as well as a free press. During a speech at a lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln attacked vigilantes for the murder of abolitionist newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy. Crusading journalist Ida B. Wells brought attention to injustice at a Memphis lyceum and through that lyceum’s newspaper. The name also is associated with a major civil rights victory at the University of Mississippi Lyceum, where rioters in 1962 stormed the building but did not prevent the registration of James Meredith, the university’s first Black student. At Marshall University, The Woodson Lyceum is a collaboration between Drinko Academy and the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism & Mass Communications – a Woodson-inspired forum on Black History, education and a free press. Since its inception, The Woodson Lyceum has produced programs involving leading figures in their fields, including Dr. Earl Lewis, who was president of the Mellon Foundation; Dr. Carla Hayden, the librarian of Congress; former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams; Dr. Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, the first African American to chair the Department of History at Harvard; Dr. Kasonya Whitehead, new president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, which Woodson founded in 1915; Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, former dean of liberal arts at Norfolk State University; Dr. Ericke Cage, president, West Virginia State University; and Brent Leggs, executive director, African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. The Lyceum also has trained hundreds of West Virginia teachers in Black History instruction and on civility issues. The poster competitions are celebrating their ninth year.
Please support the work of The Woodson Lyceum with donations through Marshall University Foundation. Visit: Maple Grove Society – The Dr. Carter G. Woodson Lyceum (marshall.edu)