With lively music and smiling faces, students gathered together in celebration of Black culture and history at Oxford College’s Black History Month showcase on Feb. 28.
The showcase featured booths displaying pieces of Black history and culture, with free items like durags, scrunchies and Black hair products. A table to the side gave students the opportunity to try samples of African dishes like piri-piri chicken and jollof rice. At night, students danced and sang in the light of the glow-sticks and string lights.
The event was organized almost entirely by three chairs on SGA’s Diversity and Inclusion (DI) committee: Chitra Yarasani (22Ox), Oluwaseun Abitogun (23Ox) and Amisha Agrawal (23Ox). The group orchestrated the event in a little under three weeks, in order to have the showcase fall on the last day of Black History Month.
“The three of us really recognized that something needed to be done for Black history month … and the time crunch definitely made things harder,” Agarwal said. “We all put a lot of hours into this event, and I think that we were all really happy with the turnout, and hopefully the student body was as well.”
Despite the stress of planning the event, Agarwal said it was “really energizing” to see the student body come together at the event, which she feels is an important step toward recognizing Oxford’s Black community.
“It made the work I was doing feel really meaningful, and it made me happy to see students happy about the recognition and representation,” Agarwal said.
Yarsani said that she was pleasantly surprised by the showcase’s large turnout and exuberant environment.
“There were about 200 people there... and the environment was super supportive,” Yarasani said. “I’m so grateful that we were able [to do] a Black History Month event that was so memorable.”
Yarasani noted a particularly strong sense of community during the dancing and singing performances at the event.
The event was also made possible by contributions from the student body. Yarasani said the event planners had help from students to create posters, advertise the event and run the booths during the event.
Many students at the event voiced concerns over the fact that the initiative was student driven and did not come from the faculty or staff.
“I feel like this event is a step in the right direction, but I wish the University would [have helped us] more with it,” Jordan Antony (23Ox) said.
Others said they felt that the administration’s use of guest lectures and round table discussions are not as impactful as they should be. Most students also felt the College tends to take credit for student-led initiatives like these, making previous attempts to promote diversity throughout the campus seem disingenuous.
“The administration could do more to uplift Black voices authentically and not just for show,” Chloe Minor (23Ox) said.
The event sought to bring Black students together at a campus with apast of enslavement and dispossession, and is something Yarasani hopes will become an annual celebration.
“This is something we hope will be a tradition,” Yarsani said.
In the future, however, Yarasani said she hopes the College will take the initiative to organize an event like this one, so that students will not have to do all of the work themselves.
“The big thing I want the University to take away from this event is that Oxford has diversity but it doesn’t have enough inclusion,” Yarasani said. “There are so many groups on campus, and not all of them are showcased.”
