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I recently spoke to Ayo Adekoya, who is on the committee that plans the events for Black History Month at UIC. He spoke a bit on the events the committee has planned and his own experience with the committee.
“Black History Month (BHM) is an annual celebration of achievements by Africans and African Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of Black people in the U.S history. In recognition, this event has been created to build community by acknowledging the importance of Black History Month and the idea of family reunion. With the pandemic prevailing UIC students for the past year; Black students have not been able to band together to celebrate their accomplishments, which is what the events UIC has planned are for. The events created by UIC’s BHM committee include a ‘Soul Food Brunch’, an ‘Aux Battle’ hosted by ASC (African Student Council), a dodgeball tournament hosted by NACWC ( The National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs), and much more!”
“In all my time at UIC, I have never really been a part of a committee and I have never had the chance to help prepare something of this magnitude. Which is why, when my advisor asked me to jump on this project, I exclaimed a resounding YES! Apart from this being my first big project that I have worked on at UIC, I was more excited that it was for Black History Month. Being a Black and Queer person, I sometimes find it hard to celebrate all facets of my identity; but with this project, I was able to honor my blackness and create events that honor the black students at UIC. After successfully completing the projects at UIC, I’ve realized that I would like to be more involved in projects and activities that help to serve the UIC community.”
The events for Black History Month can be found here. Go and attend the upcoming events the Black History Month Committee have worked so hard to plan!