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Notre Dame observes Black History Month with campus events

Author: Kristi Flaherty

Black History Month

The University of Notre Dame is celebrating Black History Month throughout February with a number of events.

The schedule is as follows. It will be updated as more information becomes available.

  • Feb. 6-March 31: Hesburgh Libraries Spotlight Exhibit — “That Just Isn’t Fair; Settling for Left-Overs”: African American Women Activists and Athletes in 1970s Feminist Magazines. To celebrate Black History Month (February) and Women’s History Month (March), Rare Books and Special Collections highlights several 1970s feminist magazines that introduced a wider audience to African American women in sports, politics and contemporary culture.
  • Feb. 10: Webinar: “Becoming a Pilgrim People,” noon-1 p.m. over Zoom. Join the Medieval Institute and the Center for Spirituality at Saint Mary’s College for the second in their webinar series on pilgrimage! How can the practice of pilgrimage support current work for racial justice and healing of memory? Registration is required.
  • Feb. 10: Unlocked: “Why Attica Matters,” 4-5 p.m. in the Geddes Hall Coffee House. Featuring Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian on faculty at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She is the author of “Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy” as well as “Whose Detroit?: Politics, Labor, and Race in a Modern American City,” and she writes regularly on the history of policing, mass incarceration and the current criminal justice system. 
  • Feb. 11: Live tribute concert, “A Tribute to Motown,” 7 p.m. at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Celebrate Black History Month with the ultimate live tribute concert! This concert will be hosted by 2022 Notre Dame alumnus Emorja Roberson, now an assistant professor of music and African American studies at Emory University, while featuring a live band, amazing local performers and music by Daniel “DJ MacMane” Marshall. This event will highlight your favorite Motown hits by the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Mary Wells, Gladys Knight and many more. Tickets are required.
  • Feb. 13: “Crossing the Color Line”: A film screening with director Sabrina Onana, 2:30-4 p.m. in room 101, DeBartolo Hall. What does it mean to grow up in Italy today as an Afro-descendant child of immigrants? Onana, born in Paris and raised in Naples, is a 24-year-old sociologist, independent film director and photographer. In this documentary, Onana gives us an opportunity to discover a new Italy often unrecognized on screens and by institutions.
  • Feb. 15: Movie, “Killer of Sheep,” 5:15 p.m. at Browning Cinema, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Combining lyrical moments with neorealist style, director Charles Burnett unfolds his story with compassion and humor. A masterpiece of African American filmmaking and one of the finest debuts in cinema history beautifully restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive, “Killer of Sheep” was selected for the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress and named one of the 100 Essential Films by the National Society of Film Critics.
  • Feb. 17: “Reproductive Health Disparities and Injustice virtual panel,” noon-1:30 p.m. over Zoom. This moderated 90-minute virtual panel will bring together scholars and practitioners working at the intersection of racial-ethnic health disparities and reproductive justice, and will include time for audience questions.
  • Feb. 19: Sunday Service, 5-7 p.m., Stayer Center Commons B. The Sunday Service will be led by Rev. Arthur Ssembajja and feature gospel choir Voices of Faith. The event showcases the spiritual heritage of Black people in a welcoming and uplifting way to introduce guests to Black History Week 2023. Sponsored by the Black Graduates in Management Club, African Students Association, Black Student Association, National Society of Black Engineers, Black Graduate Student Association, Black Law Students Association, Black Business Association of Notre Dame, Black Faculty and Staff Association, and Multicultural Student Programs and Studies.
  • Feb. 20: Pan-Africa Day. Students are invited to wear attire that showcases Black heritage. The Black Graduates in Management Club will be selling specially designed clothing items in the Mendoza atrium.
  • Feb. 21: Hot chocolate and bake sale fundraising event, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Mendoza atrium. Hosted by the Black Graduates in Management Club, Mendoza Graduate Career Development and the Black Student Association, the sale will feature baked goods and other items to raise money for student clubs and the Charles Martin Youth Center to support the advancement of Black youth in the South Bend community.
  • Feb. 23: Black Graduates in Management Club Networking Banquet, 6-8 p.m., Dahnke Ballroom. The banquet celebrates the heritage and culture of Africans and African Americans while enabling students, alumni, faculty and staff to network with each other in an organized and interest-based manner. Registration is required for all attendees. Students may attend by invitation only; the event is open to all faculty, staff and alumni. The Networking Banquet is being done in collaboration with Black Graduate Student association, Black Law Students Association, Black Faculty and Staff Association, and Multicultural Student Programs and Studies.
  • Feb. 23: Colloquy On Black Church Studies, noon-2 p.m. roundtable discussion and luncheon; 5-6:30 p.m., keynote speaker Tracey Hucks, the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Africana Religious Studies at Harvard Divinity School. Sponsored by the Department of Africana Studies, Department of American Studies, Initiative on Race and Resilience and Department of Theology.
  • Feb. 24: Black Graduates in Management Club Professional Development Summit, 1-3:30 p.m., Stayer Center Commons A and B. The summit is a mini-conference featuring prominent alumni and faculty members from across the University who will lead breakout sessions about being African/African American in their respective disciplines and the power of diversity in each of those spaces. The summit is open to all Notre Dame students, faculty, staff and alumni. Registration is required. 
  • Feb. 27: “Policing in America” Noon to 1 p.m. at Hesburgh Center Auditorium. Featuring Assistant Professor of Political Science David Cortez in conversation with ILS Director and Professor of Political Science Luis Fraga. They will discuss the recent incident of police-perpetrated violence involving Tyre Nichols In Memphis, as well as similar cases. Live event will be streamed. Grab and go lunch provided after event.