Events encourage community to explore identity and celebrate diversity
Open gallery
Working with students, faculty, staff, and community partners, the Office of Multicultural Affairs fosters community engagement and education through programs like the Pluralism and Unity project and Black History Month. Learn more about some of their efforts below.
Pluralism and Unity
Formed in 2010, the Pluralism & Unity Project is a student-led initiative that aims to create a safe, inclusive, and culturally competent community for everyone. Led by eight student board members, the group hosted its inaugural event in the fall. Titled “I am…LC is,” the event encouraged students to reflect on their own identities and the identity of the Lewis & Clark community. Learn more in the video below.
Black History Month
In honor of Black History Month, the OMA and Mosaic, a collective of multicultural clubs, are hosting a series of special events. This year’s theme is “Narratives on Race, Culture, Identity and the Collective Black Experience.” For complete details, visit the OMA website.
February 10: Films In Focus: Classic Narratives of the Black Experience
Explore the rich context of race, power, personal narrative in three films from very distinct approaches, eras, and genres of filmmaking. Movie snacks provided.
3:30pm | Imitation of Life (1959)
5:30pm | Malcolm X (1992)
8:30pm | Trouble The Water (2008)
Film screenings held in Templeton Campus Center, Council Chamber
February 17: Learning From Black Resistance to School Desegregation
Charise Cheney (University of Oregon), a leading scholar in African-American popular and political cultures, examines the question “what did we lose” with Brown v. Board of Education and school desegregation.
4 p.m. in Miller Center for Humanities, Room 105
February 21: Contemporary Art & Media: “Black Is…Black Ain’t”
This groundbreaking documentary by filmmaker Marlon Riggs reveals a myriad of social forces that attempt to consolidate, reduce, and contain the lives and experiences of African Americans. Discussion immediately following. Snacks will be provided.
7 p.m. in Templeton Campus Center, 3rd floor
February 22: Black Identity in a “Color Blind” Society
Student, faculty, and community panelists discuss the politics of racial identity and what it means to be “Black” today.
4 p.m. in Templeton Campus Center, Thayer
February 23: The Death of the Essential Black Subject: Marlon Riggs’ “Black Is, Black Ain’t”
African American studies scholar and founding director of the James Weldon Johnson Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies at Emory University Rudolph Byrd (BA ’75) will explore the complexities of defining “blackness” in America through a scholarly discussion of the groundbreaking Marlon Riggs film, Black Is…Black Aint.
4 p.m. in Watzek Library, Room 245
