Kennedy-King College and Teamwork Englewood's Black History Month
Rev. Joel Washington (Khunanpu Sangoma)
Published: February 4, 2012
"America is not a finished White product, but an ongoing unfinished multicultural project and each people has the right and the responsibility to speak its own special cultural truth and make its own unique contribution to how this society is reconceived and reconstructed."
-Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, CSULB, "Dialoging With DuBois On History: Preserving Memory, Maintaining Culture, Los Angeles Sentenel, 02-02-12, p. A7-
For the benefit of the corporate media that commercially refuses to notice, there is a distinctive African American national community, culture, and holiday calendar within U.S. society that is in fact a multicultural America. Arguably, the centerpiece of the African American cultural calendar is the annual observance of Black History Month (BHM) that is traditionally practiced during February.
Launched in 1926 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950), the annual Black History observance was designed to build African American national-popular moral, active, and financial support for the sustained cultural production of Black History and scholarship.
This said Black History celebrations are now blossoming all over Black America of which Southside Chicago, that houses the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library as well as a lion's share of Metro Chicago's African American community, is by no means an exception. Certainly, one key set of Black History Celebrations worthy of note by Southside's Englewood is this year's Kennedy-King College (KKC) and Teamwork Englewood's (TE) program. As this is the first in a series of reports on the Black History events at KKC, this piece will focus exclusively on the opening events of Wednesday, 2/1 and Thursday, 2/2.
The 2012 KKC and TE program is organized under the general theme "Black History Month: Celebrating the culture, history and achievements of African Americans (Celebrate. Learn. Inspire)." The program's sub-theme is "The Power of Black Women in American History: Perseverance, Strength, and Vision (Saluting Activists Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker)." Accordingly, two opening program high-points of 2/1 were the "Women Led Organizations of Englewood Awards" and the "Legends Conversation" that featured KKC's incoming President, Dr. Joyce Ester, KKC Sociology Professor Emiritus Dr. Audrey M. Turner, Teamwork Englewood's New Communities Manager Ms. Doris Jones, KKC Communications Department's Dr. Rosemary R. Jackson and KKC Alumnus Ms. Russha Harris.
The 2/2 phase of KKC'S BHM opening program featured an engaging Black Womanist panel discussion headed "Multiple Jeopardies in Womanist Thought" which discussed the dynamics of gendar, race and class in Black Womanism. Moderated by KKC Wellness Director Ms. Cynthia Armester, the womanist penel featured Dr. Eugenia Dixon Reeves of Chicago State, Dr. Bonnie Claudia Harrison of KKC, and Dr. Joyce Ester-the incoming KKC President. The closing 2/2 opening BHM event was a strong evening cultural performance by Jabril Africa Dance Troupe of Kenya, East Africa.
KKC and TE'S BHM events are staged in the College's U building at the Northwest corner of 63rd and Halsted. For more information contact Ms. Debra Crable, Director of Public Relations, KKC.