By Peter Ly ’23
Every February is Black History Month, when people celebrate African-American history as well as culture. And at Bellarmine, the Black Student Union has taken steps to celebrate the month with the Bellarmine community.
Earlier this month, the BSU held their annual Black Student Union Cultural Celebration where the BSU along with the Mothers’ Guild and the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion focused on the theme of Black Excellence. The celebration was a celebration of culture where the BSU highlighted important black people who impacted a wide range of fields such as sports, science, and literature. The speakers and the organizers ran the event extremely well, and the people who attended highly enjoyed the session.
In addition, as the BSU is deciding when their next event will be, Mr. Henry is currently running read-in’s about Langston Hughes. During these read-in sessions, Mr. Henry analyzes Langston Hughes’ poems and connects them to real life events, giving Bells an opportunity to hear and share in his thought provoking analyses. As it was difficult to host such immersive events last year due to the lockdown, the BSU is excited to host these events this year in-person.
For the BSU, Black History Month has a special meaning of remembering what black people have gone through as well as celebrating their achievements. Although the BSU does not require anyone to explicitly celebrate the month alongside them, the BSU has a goal that Black History Month will educate those who do not understand why the month is celebrated, and they hope that the Bellarmine community will respect the month.