Local Events

The Black Card Experience at the The Bird Comedy Theater in the Crossroads Art District

When: Saturday, Feb. 24 from 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Price: $12-$15

Regarding this event, The Bird Comedy Theater said, “Fresh from performing live at SF SketchFest, Katherene Garry, (Let Me Explain My Blackness, It’s A Cultural Thing, The Anarchy Fun Time Show) brings back KC Fringe 2023’s Best of Venue show about the stereotypes of black culture for one night.” 

BLK + BRWN MOVIE NIGHT! @ Stray Cat Film Center on Broadway Blvd.

When: Sunday, Feb. 25 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Price: $ Free

The Stray Cat Film Center, partnering with BLK + BRWN, is screening “The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” in honor of Black History Month.

Jewell Kitchen in YGCU Room 221/222

When: Tuesday, Feb. 27 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Price: $10 

Here is a description obtained from the BSA Brightspace Page: “Bring your appetite to enjoy some soul food! This event will feature a raffle for a campus parking space and trivia where you can win prizes like a Nintendo Switch or a massage gun! Sponsored by BSA.”

Reading and Local Businesses:

For a quick read, hop on over to the Kansas City Black History website and download this year’s pamphlet. This booklet highlights Black historical figures, including a musician, a teacher, a physician, a politician and many more. Some of the famous names include Samuel U. Rodgers, Vincent O. Carter, Myrtle Foster Cook and Annetta Washington. For a longer read, check out Goodreads’s Black History Month List that recommends books such as “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou and “Beloved” by Toni Morrison.

KC Black Owned created several lists that include Black-owned small businesses such as restaurants, cafes, bakeries, retail stores and much more. There are even some bookstores included, so check out the Goodreads list and pick up your next read at one of these Black-owned bookstores! Black History Month is an important celebration and commemoration of Black history. If you feel inspired by this list, consider using your voice to elevate Black voices.

Alongside many other efforts to highlight the importance of equity and inclusion, students, staff and organizations at William Jewell College have come together to honor Black History Month despite the challenges that COVID-19 presented this year.

To account for the decreasing number of students on campus and the need for socially-distanced events, organizations have modified traditional events and piloted unique celebrations in the month of February.

One organization, the Black Student Alliance (BSA), is set to host their annual Jewell Kitchen event Thursday, Feb. 25, to celebrate local foods and Black culinary influences, according to BSA President Tavarus Pennington, junior communication and English major.

The event will take place on the floor above the cafeteria in rooms 221 and 222 of the Yates-Gill College Union. BSA will provide adequate space for all attendees to eat socially-distanced and the food will be served by the Fresh Ideas staff. Pennington explained that BSA wanted the event to remain “as true to tradition as safely possible,” and he hopes that it will look similar to the current Jewell cafeteria experience.

Students can purchase tickets for the event in the Union during Jewell time until Thursday or until all tickets are sold. 

Additionally, Student Life hosted a Black History Month Jeopardy night Feb. 8 in the Melrose lobby. However, with limitations on in-person gatherings, many celebrations were moved onto social media. 

On Instagram, the Gender Issues and Feminism club (GIF) celebrated Black womxn who had “contributed to the advancement of black people and worked hard to create spaces where black bodies are appreciated and free,” as they wrote in their #WomenCrushWednesday post Feb. 3. 

GIF honored Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement and activist against sexual violence, Feb. 3; Maya Wiley, founder and president of the Center for Social Inclusion and racial justice advocate, Feb. 10; Majora Carter, founder of the non-profit environmental justice group Sustainable South Bronx, Feb. 17; and Alicia Garza, special projects director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance and co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter, Feb. 24.

Additionally, they held an event on Black feminism on Feb. 24. Lydia Enge, senior political science and communication major and GIF’s communications chair, led a presentation and discussion on Black feminism, which included definitions of Black feminism, a brief outline of its history and supplementary videos which further described the importance and origins of Black feminism.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed BSA’s ability to generate sustained interest in the organization itself, Pennington explained that Black history carries importance regardless.

“To me, celebrating Black history is a solemn act of self-reflection and humble appreciation and respect,” Pennington said. “The ethos of solitude that the pandemic presents us with seems to be perfect for any productive ‘celebration’ of Black history. With that said, obviously the pandemic has made it very difficult to plan engaging material activities to do with Black History Month. That’s not even to mention the bitter and downright dangerous cold this month has brought us.”

Vice President for Access and Engagement, Dr. Rodney Smith, reiterated this sentiment as well, emphasizing that Black history and Black History Month is more than just a celebration to many.

“It is important for Black people to know about themselves and about our ancestors, even in the face of a pandemic,” Smith said. “We still need to find ways to continue to celebrate because it’s important to people’s psychological mental health, to people’s beliefs about themselves [and] to people’s self esteem. It also contributes to this idea of self-efficacy, [which] means a belief in your ability.” 

In Smith’s first year at Jewell, several projects intended to supplement the college’s Radical Inclusivity efforts have surfaced and propelled forward with several significant developments, many of which are aimed at amplifying historically-accurate and diverse perspectives.

Recognizing that Jewell was founded as an all-male, whites-only college, these efforts, in addition to Black History Month, can assist students and staff in taking a moment to honor the history behind the institution from which they benefit.

This semester, Jewell implemented a new history course, HIS 204: Slavery, Memory, and Justice, which is taught by Associate Professor of History Dr. Christopher Wilkins to encourage informed conversation on Jewell’s history with slavery and highlight the importance of historical accuracy. Overall, the course is intended to investigate Jewell’s connection to the ubiquity of slavery in the area at the time of its inception.

After realizing that slavery likely played a role in Jewell’s founding, Dr. Smith explained the impact that this revelation had on him.

“And it just dawned on me,” Smith said. “ A few weeks ago as I was walking across campus, I looked over at Jewell Hall, and [I thought], if that is indeed true that enslaved Africans helped to build that building, could they ever imagine me? Could they ever imagine a descendent of enslaved Africans being a part of the leadership on their college campus? It’s a pretty humbling thought from my vantage point.”

To further diversify perspectives, students from various organizations and staff, including Pennington and Smith, launched the Critical Foundations Collection in Curry Library that focuses on amplifying the voices of people and authors from marginalized demographics. The collection features books about BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, feminism, religions alternative to Christianity and more. Sophomore digital communications major Claire Henry, senior physics and Oxbridge history of ideas major and engagement chair for GIF, Catherine Dema, and others were also involved in the initiative.

BSA was one of the leading organizations in developing the Critical Foundations Collection, and according to Pennington, the organization plays an important part in vitalizing Black history given the context and culture at Jewell.

“The importance of black history to BSA is supercharged particularly within a context where we attend a predominantly white institution that boasts a critical approach to liberal arts thinking alongside a predominantly white faculty and core curriculum,” Pennington said. “It seems the natural role of BSA is to contest this sort of culture.”

With such a heavily-Eurocentric curriculum for K-12 and most higher-education institutions in the United States, Smith echoes the importance of diversifying perspectives and highlighting Black history.

“In order to be considered an educated individual or to be thought of as being well-read, you have to read certain pieces,” Dr. Smith said, “and the pieces that we are saying we have to read, historically, have not been very diverse; they haven’t come from a diversity of perspectives. I’m beginning to believe and understand that you’re not [actually] well-read until you’re reading a diversity of perspectives. That fact alone heightens the importance of black history.”

Overall, Smith elaborates, these efforts to honor Black History Month as well as the achievements in permanently including historically-accurate and diverse perspectives can go a long way in inspiring new generations to pursue opportunities of their own.

“How do we gain beliefs in our ability? We gain [self-efficacy] through a couple of ways,” Dr. Smith said. “One of the ways is through vicarious influences: if you see somebody else who looks like you, who is doing this thing or who has done this thing, then it triggers something in you to say, ‘Well, maybe I could do that too.’ It’s important for us to continue to visit those vicarious opportunities so people can see themselves. History gives us an opportunity to expand those opportunities and expand those incidences where [we] can see reflections of ourselves.”

Looking for something to do on campus this week? Here are some of the events that are hosted by and for the Jewell community:

On Tuesday, Feb. 23, the women’s basketball team will be going up against Drury University at 6 p.m. This away game, as well as other away games, can be viewed on the William Jewell College athletics page. 

On Wednesday, Feb. 24, Gender Issues and Feminism (GIF) is hosting a discussion about Black feminism in room 112 of the PLC at 10:30 a.m. The discussion will center around a video about Black feminism in celebration of Black History Month. 

On Thursday, Feb. 25, in room 221/222 of the Yates-Gill Union, Black Student Alliance (BSA) is hosting their annual Jewell Kitchen event to honor local Black foods and Black culinary influences. Tickets for this event will be sold during Jewell Time in the Union until the day of the event, or until all tickets are sold.

On Friday, Feb. 26, GIF is hosting a Menstrual Product Drive in the Union. Students can donate menstrual products to GIF for their “Take One, Leave One” campaign. This campaign allows the club to offer free menstrual products to the Jewell community in various bathroom locations across campus. 

At 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., the softball team will be going up against the University of Nebraska at Kearney and Northwest Missouri State University, respectively. At 5 p.m., the women’s soccer team will be going up against Drury University, and the men’s soccer team will also go up against Drury at 7:30 p.m.

On Saturday, Feb. 27, the softball team will be going up against Upper Iowa University at 11 a.m. The women’s basketball team will face off against Rockhurst University at 1 p.m. At the same time, the women’s and men’s tennis teams will be going up against Missouri Valley College. At 3 p.m., the men’s basketball team will play Rockhurst University. At the same time, the softball team will be going up against Midwestern State University Texas and the women’s volleyball team will be going up against the University of Southern Indiana. At 6 p.m., the women’s volleyball team will be facing off against Maryville University. 

On Sunday, Feb. 28, the women’s soccer team will play against Missouri S&T at 12 p.m. The men’s soccer team will play against Missouri S&T at 2:30 p.m.

The Black Student Alliance (BSA) of William Jewell College released an open letter regarding their name change from Black Student Association to the Black Student Alliance. Read their open letter below.

“These “educated” people, however, decry any such thing as race consciousness; and in some respects, they are right. They do not like to hear such expressions as “Negro literature,” “Negro poetry,” “African art,” or “thinking Black”; and, roughly speaking, we must concede that such things do not exist. These things did not figure in the courses which they pursued in school, and why should they? “Aren’t we all Americans? Then, whatever is American is as much the heritage of the Negro as of any other group in this country.””

– Carter G. Woodson ‘The Mis-Education of the Negro’ (1933)

Dear William Jewell College community,

Moments of deep cultural awareness emerge out of events that conjure empathy among different groups of a society. That empathy is felt by other groups and during this instance of recognition comes something stronger. A bond that unites people across ideological, geographic, and economic lines. This is solidarity.

Unfortunately, the dislocation of Black consciousness is a natural impediment of White civil society. It seems inarguable that the presence of Black tradition, language, thought, and scholarship is at a deficit with the dominant process of learning proffered in a systemically White world. This is not a hopeless situation. Simply one that requires action.

We, the Black Student Alliance, seek to lean into the heightened awareness for racial inequity that the long-silenced activists, organizers, artists, writers, and teachers have been leading. We’ll do this by energizing the same passion toward discovery that drives the Nonames, Ta-Nahisi Coateses, Angela Davises, and Patrisse Cullorses of our society.

By building and hosting programs with the experience of Blackness being the top priority of our engagements, we will assert the fact of systematic neglect of particularly Afrocentric perspectives. We will reconcile our own experiences, as William Jewell students, with the broader body of history and theory surrounding the Black experience as told by scholars, activists, organizers, and allies alike.

Our commitment is to our members, our facility is support, and our goal is consciousness. To infuse intention into our activities, we ask that each person who takes the time to grow closer to this campus and its Black student population also invest with intentionality in the aim of our motives.

Rather than cultivating a closed circuit of camaraderie within the isolated confines of a ‘Black Student Association’ we will formally move forward as the ‘Black Student Alliance’. To better achieve our goals and forge productive relationships with the levers of power and influence on this campus, the concept of ‘allyship’ ought to be an ever present, primary concern of our activities.

BSA has a humble request for our campus of learners, educators, and administrators: That you engage in an, examination, to any extent, of the ubiquity of White culture. We further request that you consider joining our conversation and opening yourself up to truths that compete with your preconceived system of belief.

This is the mission of the Black Student Alliance at William Jewell College.

Respectfully,

The 2020-2021 Black Student Alliance Cabinet