Several student organizations came together at Stockton to raise the Pan-African flag to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Black History Month being nationally recognized in the United States. My’Air Henry, president of the Unified Black Student Society (UBSS), opened the ceremony this past Monday, thanking the attendees for braving the cold to witness the flag raising.

After the performance of the Black National Anthem, Shane Moore, vice president of UBSS, spoke to the crowd about the importance of celebrating the past, present and future of African Americans. “We must not be silent about what has happened, what is happening, and what is going to happen,” Moore said about the efforts in the US to censor African American history. His speech drew concerns to current events that involve the attempts to remove African American history from the curriculum in several schools.

Dr. Allison, an Africana Studies and Communications professor at Stockton, spoke about the creation of Black History Month. In 1926, Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week to celebrate the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. The week expanded into a month in 1970, before being declared a national celebration in 1976. Dr. Allison also spoke of Black history being under attack and physically removed, and that “there is not progress without struggle.”

African Student Organization’s President, Tapiwanashe Khumalo, and Caribbean Student Association’s secretary, Nikiya Smith, spoke about the strength, creativity and pride they celebrate in Black history. Khumalo described Black history as “actively evolving,” and that BHM was the opportunity to celebrate that evolving culture.

Dr. Reid-Merritt, a professor in Africana Studies and Psychology, emphasized the importance of studying Black culture by “breathing life into it.” Her speech included a quote from activist Maya Angelou, who said that “If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going.”

Adrianna Schofield, vice president of the Africana Studies club, closed the ceremony by speaking about the history of the Black studies program in the United States. Africana Studies became a major at Stockton in 2019. Schofield spoke of the importance of preserving Black history, and noted that “without preserved history, we become vulnerable to believing we are lesser.”

The post-flag raising reception was held in the upper levels of A-wing, where attendees could interact with each other. There are several other Black History Month events being held at Stockton University over the month which can be found here.