Various campus events to honor Black History

The Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center is sponsoring four events in February to celebrate Black History Month.\nThe NMBCC will hold an event each week under the theme "Leadership and Service," said Oyibo Afoaku, director of the center.\nAfoaku said the theme is very fitting for the IU campus because IU is "strong in student leadership." \nThe deaths of black civil rights' activists like Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King serve as a reminder this month to young people that advances toward better race relations and a more "friendly climate" need to \ncontinue.\n"I hope students continue to make a difference at IU and the rest of the world," Afoaku said. \nAfoaku said the month is in celebration of black figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other African Americans who have made a difference in society, like black inventors.\nThe celebration kicked off Thursday night with the annual Sound the Drum. The drum is played for people in the community to make a "personal and collective commitment" to something important in their lives. The drum is considered a symbol of unity and solidarity, said Afoaku, and the ceremony is very "philosophical and educational."\nOther activities for Black History Month include an Annual Black Knowledge Bowl on Feb. 9 and a lecture by professor Beverly Moran of Vanderbilt University Law School on Feb. 16. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Black Law Student Association, Office of Diversity Education, Department of Sociology and the IUB School of Law.\nMoran's speech is titled "Changes in the View of Race in America in the last 60 Years," Afoaku said.\n"We want people to think about what changes have been made in the U.S. in the last 60 years, and where we're going," Afoaku said. "People have to think about and ... reflect on the significance of the month."\nAfoaku said the month's celebrations are a reminder to people about the seven principles of Kwanzaa and how they are leading their lives according to those principles.\nThe month rounds out with the annual Africana Festival on Feb. 23. The first part of the festival includes a student panel, lecture drumming workshop and informational vendors. The second part features a soul food dinner, entertainment and a fashion show.\nLaura Galloway, associate director of the Office of Affirmative Action, said the celebration of Black History Month is just one part of a bigger celebration that should take place all year.\n"It's important we don't just have (celebrations) in February," Galloway said. "They're events that go on throughout the year"