Around 75 people stood in the City Hall Council Chambers, singing the lyrics of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the 1900 hymn by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson commonly called the Black national anthem. IU students Donavan Miller, Khloe Williams and Marlexis Wilson led them in song.
No instruments played; other than the group’s voices, the room was silent.
“We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,” part of the song goes. “Out from the gloomy past, ‘til now we stand at last where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.”
The hymn helped lead off the City of Bloomington’s Black History Month Kickoff Celebration on Saturday in City Hall — the start of events celebrating Black history throughout February.
This year’s theme is “African Americans and Labor: From Slave Ships to the White House.”
Andrew Shannon, Black History Month Planning Committee member and safe and civil city director, said the theme comes from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the national association that says it founded Black History Month. But the committee added the subtitle, “From Slave Ships to the White House,” following community feedback.
Shannon said African American history is American history, and it’s important to celebrate their contribution across fields beyond just February.
“We use the term, ‘from astronauts to presidents,’ and that encompasses everyone,” Shannon said.
The celebration Saturday featured a discussion with four local Black business owners and managers moderated by Jessica McClain, a visiting research scientist at the IU School of Education.
The panelists spoke about their journeys in their fields, the obstacles they’ve faced as Black professionals and what influenced their career choices.
Maurice Johns, electromagnetic warfare, science and technology division manager at Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, said growing up in the South, racism looks different than in the Midwest. In the South, he described it as blatant and unapologetic. In the Midwest, he said it’s a “glass ceiling.”
“There’s roadblocks, there’s biases, there’s hurdles that you have to pass that you don’t know that they exist until you hit that glass,” Johns said.
Don Griffin Jr., owner of Griffin Realty and former deputy mayor and mayoral candidate, described his journey from borrowing $250 from his grandmother to pay for a course to get his real estate license to owning what he said is one of the largest African American-owned real estate companies in the Midwest.
Even now though, Griffin said he and other Black people have to prove themselves to others. He said it keeps Black people innovative, from creating jazz to influencing speech.
“I love being Black. I love it — I’m good at it,” Griffin said, drawing laughter and applause from the crowd.
Mayor Kerry Thomson spoke prior to the panel discussion, saying the world may seem “unsettled.”
“In this moment, I want to recognize that many people are feeling scared, perhaps defeated and certainly weary,” Thomson said. “And I want to tell you our community is stronger than any single one of us.”
In his first weeks in office, President Donald Trump issued executive orders aimed at dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in federal government. This led the Defense Intelligence Agency to pause all events related to Black History Month, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth, Pride Month, Holocaust Remembrance Day and other “special observances.”
Other federal agencies have taken similar steps to comply with the orders, and a number of nationwide businesses have rolled back their DEI programs voluntarily. Although Trump issued a proclamation Jan. 31 declaring February as National Black History Month.
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun issued a similar executive order, which directs the state to replace DEI with so-called “merit, excellence and intelligence” initiatives. Braun’s proposed budget also doesn’t include funding for Martin University, the state’s only predominately Black university. It received $5 million in funding from the 2023-25 state budget.
The moves led Black faith leaders, community members and lawmakers to protest outside Braun’s office Jan. 29.
Shannon, from the Bloomington Black History Month Planning Committee, said the Black community, particularly with its contributions to American labor throughout history, embodies merit, excellence and integrity.
“You can use whatever acronym you want,” Shannon said. “It still comes back to the African American community.”
