MLK Jr. Celebration Week from Jan. 11-16 engages his legacy with events about racial equality, labor rights, pacifism, Christian activism, and community and relationship building.

This year’s theme, “For Such a Time as This,” comes from the Bible verse Esther 4:14, in which Esther’s cousin Mordecai convinces the young queen to intervene on behalf of her persecuted people.

Black History Month follows in February, with a host of events both new and traditional planned by Black Student Union (BSU) co-presidents Tae Dews and Oksana Kittrell. The month, first officially designated Black History Month in 1976 by President Gerald R. Ford, grew out of a week of recognition which coincided with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

“My favorite part of Black History Month is bringing awareness to our campus about black history because I believe that we have been shielded from the truth about the history of black Americans in the U.S., and that we are not getting the whole story,” says Kittrell. “It is a story that needs to be heard.”

MLK Jr. Celebration Week Events

• Jan. 11, 4:30-6 p.m. “Mindfully Multicultural” Workshop I, Martin Chapel. Join licensed professional counselors Tom Miller and Dr. Greg Czyszczon for an afternoon thoughtfully addressing the problems and potential of multiculturalism.
• Jan. 12, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Mix-it-up Lunch, Northlawn Dining Hall. Converse with people from a variety of backgrounds.
• Jan. 13, 10 a.m. Chapel Reading Circles, various locations. Gather to read and discuss various sermons and speeches by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., facilitated by BSU members and campus faculty and staff.
• Jan. 13, 5 p.m. Service Project. The Multicultural Student Services office will lead various service projects in Harrisonburg’s historic Northeast Neighborhood.
• Jan. 14, 10 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Visit to Harriet Tubman Cultural Center and Tyrone Sprague’s Barbershop. The Harriet Tubman Cultural Center is an educational and advocacy museum about slavery, the Underground Railroad and its most famous conductor. Tyrone Sprague’s Barbershop is an MLK Jr. week mainstay of informal racial education in downtown Harrisonburg. Transportation leaves from the front of University Commons at 9:30 a.m.

• Jan. 15, 11 a.m. Community Church Service, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church with senior pastor The Rev. Dr. Chinita Richardson, who is also an educator, paralegal, travel agency owner, ex-offender support program founder, advocate and mother. Attendees will join the Bethel congregation as Richardson leads worship at this “word and love-centered ministry designed to evangelize the lost, equip and empower the people of God, who connects to the community as well as the world.” Transportation leaves the Campus Center at 10:30 a.m. Followed by a community lunch at John Wesley United Methodist Church.
• Jan. 16, 10-10:15 a.m. Solidarity March, Thomas Plaza. A march preceding chapel demonstrates solidarity with King and his intentions for a just society and diverse unity.
• Jan. 16, 10:15-11:15 a.m. MLK Jr. Celebration Chapel, Lehman Auditorium. The Rev. Dr. Chinita Richardson leads chapel in “a celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through praise and worship, featuring the 91����Ƶ Gospel Choir.” Followed by a talkback in Common Grounds.
• Jan. 25, 4:30-6 p.m. “Values and Unthought Knowns” Workshop II, Martin Chapel. Czyszczon and Miller continue the workshop series started with Mindfully Multicultural Jan. 11.

Black History Month Events

• Feb. 6, 7:30-9:30 p.m. Showing of 13TH, Common Grounds. The 2016 documentary by Ava DuVernay which “challenges your ideas about the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States,” according to the New York Times. The documentary earned Best Director, Best Documentary Feature and Best Political Documentary at the 2016 Critic’s Choice Documentary Awards.
• Feb. 8, 10 a.m. Chapel, Lehman Auditorium with civil rights activist and speaker Bob Zellner, who grew up in a KKK-affiliated family in Alabama and joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in college. He went on to grassroots organize for civil rights across the South and participated in the 1963 March on Washington, the site of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
• Feb 8, 4:30-6 p.m. “Who Got Next” Workshop III. Czyszczon and Miller continue the workshop series started with Mindfully Multicultural.
• Feb. 9, 7:30 p.m. Town Hall on Race, Common Grounds. “This time will provide space where we would focus on issues that we face as students and faculty of color pertaining to diversity and race relations on campus,” says Dews.
• Feb. 15, 8-9:30 p.m. Poetry Slam BHM Edition, Black Box Theater. The slam carries on the Black Student Union’s precedent of inviting attendees to “share poetry, spoken word, song, or any other form of expression! BSU encourages you to be yourself and just share!”
• Feb. 16, 9-10 p.m. Hangouts, Game Room. BSU will gather informally for a time of friendship and discussion.
• Feb. 22, 10 a.m. Chapel, Lehman Auditorium led by BSU members under the theme of “Hotep,” an ancient Egyptian word which most closely translates to “peace.”

But this was no ordinary feast.

The main course at 91����Ƶ’s Multicultural Services’ Soul Food Cafe was cultural diversity, says Melody Pannell, director of the program. Contemporary gospel music, fellowship and a celebration of the kickoff of black history month also were on the menu.

Pannell credited a Manhattan restaurant for inspiring the annual event, now in its third year. The restaurant served soul food, she said, and treated customers to live music.

"It was very popular," she said.

‘Celebration Of Faith’

The 91����Ƶ event appears to be picking up steam. 91����Ƶ 60 people purchased tickets for the dinner and concert this year. Volunteers began preparing for the feast on Thursday, said John Grinfin, 23.

An accounting senior from Frederick, Md., Grinfin is one of eight assistants in Pannell’s office.

The event does more than take note of African-American culture during February, he said.

"It’s a celebration of faith, as well," Grinfin said.

He and 91����Ƶ junior Bill Seidle, 21, of Madison, were among the early arrivals to help create the right atmosphere for the cafe.

Seidle, a social work major, was attending his second Soul Food Cafe. After going last year, he decided to join Multicultural Services as an assistant.

"It is very important to promote diversity among students," Seidle said.

Crossing Bridges

The aroma of the freshly cooked food wafted into the room as Pannell ran down the list of dishes on the evening’s menu.

Along with collard greens and baked macaroni and cheese, the menu included cabbage, candied yams, cornbread and sweet potato pie.

Asked to define soul food, Pannell said it is "food that makes you feel alive and good in your spirit, and is cooked with love."

Pannell said she hopes people attend events this month celebrating black history and multiculturalism, and try something new.

"When they cross cultural bridges and backgrounds and open themselves up to new experiences," she said, "they receive something back."

Selam Hussein, an 91����Ƶ student from Ethiopia, produced a film titled “Reality 101” for international students. Behind him is equipment used for editing raw footage.
Photo By Michael A. Tripp

For four months, the video-editing lab in the back of 91����Ƶ’s library was Selam Hussein